2070 - Cybernetic Aftermath
by Axris
Summary: This is a fairly stupid aftermath novel for a D&D campaign I wrote set in the DR universe for my friends to read. Please don't ask me to explain anything. Basically, it details a second storyline taking place 4-5 years after the initial plot of my campaign. Focuses on Fuyuhiko Kuzuryuu, Makoto Naegi, and Celestia Ludenberg, alternates between chapters. Rated M for later chapters.
1. Prologue

"We're reporting live from outside the newly refurbished City Centre of Lagaard, here with the new Senator of the Okugawan Council – Kokichi Ouma won the popular vote of the people of Okugawa. Ouma, how do you feel about the future of Lagaard with yourself in charge?"

The televised interview of the outside of the City Centre rang throughout the centre itself, the officials inside watching intently, more-or-less.  
"…T-That boy looks kind of familiar…" Touko clutched onto her braided hair, keeping a fairly intent look on the broadcast as Kokichi gave his response to the reporter, smiling to her and waving to the crowds.  
"How so?" Celes deadpanned, standing by the open window and balcony. The balcony overlooked the event in question – Kokichi providing the crowds with the answers they wanted.  
"Y-You remember Byakuya's childhood friend, right…?" Touko responded, as Celes wandered back towards the television along the wall.  
"Vaguely…" Celes took a glance at the televised broadcast, frowning and trying to remember. "... My, you have a point. Little Yamagi didn't do too bad for herself after dying, no?" She gave a laugh, to which Touko responded with a scowl.  
"S-Still… Yamagi rejected nobility… b-but a lookalike is t-taking on a role of nobility." Touko sighed, before lying back.

Celes shook her head, before turning her attention to exactly what was being said over the broadcast.  
"… planning to provide a safer, cleaner community here in the Capitol, now that it's back on its feet after the Tragedy of Okugawa."  
"And what do you plan to do about the rising popularity of androids, robots, cyborgs, and CyBERs?" The reporter asked, handing the microphone back over to Kokichi.  
"They're not humans – they're robots, and they should be treated as such. We will be denying citizenship to them." Kokichi responded, smiling as he elaborated. "They will still be protected under discrimination rights, but they will be given a different set of rights. Because they are different. An android, a robot, a CyBER? They can't think for themselves beyond a simple computer program. Any thinking is done by a machine, rather than a creative solution by-"

Celes shut the television off with a groan, though she could still hear the faintest thralls of Kokichi's voice from the open window and balcony.  
"H-He's got Yamagi's looks, b-but not her attitude…" Touko commented, staring towards the ceiling.  
"Ruthless, stubborn, willing to sacrifice others to advance what they believe to be the greater good…" Celes responded, to which Touko gave a shrug.  
"P-Point taken… st-still, this guy gives me horrible vibes."  
"You're one to talk. Your body's still 100% natural." Celes tapped her temple, placing emphasis on her eyes.  
"Y-You put yourself in that situation…" Touko groaned.  
"The details aren't important anymore. That was four years ago." Celes retorted, following Touko's lead and lying back. "Besides. Nagito is 90% robot. He's going to get affected by this boy's political pushes. Nanami, too."  
"Kuzuryuu's also going to be affected…" Touko pointed out, rolling herself onto her side.  
"Look, I wouldn't be opposed to shoving him onto the freeway, but I don't believe that someone who assisted taking down the woman who caused the Tragedy of Okugawa should be stripped of their rights." Celes sighed. "Maybe tea will help clear our heads."

A request order and ten minutes later, both women were sitting up in front of a marble-white, hovering tray, a cup of milk tea in both of their hands. The tray soon situated itself on a desk in the room, as the two began to drink.  
"… Do you ever worry about your position, Touko?" Celes inquired, trying to change the topic from the new Senator's agendas.  
"I-It's no Senator's Advisor, b-but… honestly, i-it's better than playing th-third wheel to a man who p-picked you over someone who cared about him." Touko retorted, before taking a sip of her tea.  
"I did love Byakuya, hard as that is for you to believe." Celes responded, giving a tilt of her head. "I simply gave him his space when he required it. Anyway, let's not dwell on the past. Byakuya's long gone now."  
"F-Fine… My position's pretty stable. Speech writing… I-I can manage that fairly easily. Not many other people can." Touko replied. "… Yours?"  
"I'm quite good with diplomacy and manipulation, so being a diplomat for Okugawa? I'd say that position's quite stable, too." Celes gave a smile, and for a few minutes, silence hung between the two, broken occasionally by sips.

"… D-Do you think anybody's found out a-about your part-time profession?" Touko asked, finally, breaking the silence between the two.  
"Unless CyBERs, police, and the public have been following a mere diplomat like a hawk… ahaha, I don't believe so." Celes responded, smiling. "Or if they've heard about it from you."  
"I-I don't have a reason to tell… b-besides, you'd kill me if I did."  
"You learn quickly, Touko."  
"Y-You tried killing me the last time I was going to talk… o-of course I wouldn't tell." Touko sighed, standing up with her now-empty cup. "B-Besides, there's no benefit to talking…"  
"Here, mine too." Celes handed her own over, and with a scowl, Touko took the cup, placing both back on the hover tray. The tray took off with the two cups, leaving the room. "I commend you for being a quick learner, Touko."  
"Y-Yeah, whatever…" Touko returned to the large couch, sighing. "... I-I'm gonna be honest… I miss the days where we were actively fighting something. That… that was the most alive I've ever felt."  
"We were constantly at risk of dying a horrific death at the hands of a tyrant or a necromancer's undead army. I can't say I miss that." Celes twisted a piece of her hair around her finger, trying to avoid getting her finger tangled. Letting her hair grow out might not have been a wise decision in her retrospect, but it felt a lot better than the fake drills she used to wear.

An announcement broke out through the intercom. "All androids, robots, CyBERs and cyborgs will report to the main hall immediately." The announcement demanded, before shutting off. Touko turned to Celes, who simply shook her head in response.  
"Y-You might lose your job if you don't go…" Touko pointed out.  
"The only cybernetic enhancement I have is my eyes, Touko, after they were gouged out. If I'm regarded as a cyborg, you can be regarded as a panther." Celes responded.  
"P-Point taken… what are you going to do instead?"  
"Meet with Nagito and Chiaki, try my luck with the underground. Later tonight, obviously, I wouldn't dare go out and do this in broad daylight."  
"… So what about now?"  
"Both you and I could probably use a rest. If this is our new Senator… any rest we can get will be needed."  
"W-What, we go back to our homes and rest?"  
"What, you cannot take a nap here? It's quite comfortable."

Reluctantly, Touko laid back down on the large, silvery-beige couch.  
"… Y-You're not going to do anything to me while I'm asleep… right?" Touko inquired, frowning.  
"I can't do much to you in your sleep if I'm also going to be asleep, Touko." Celes responded, before giving a dainty yawn and lying on the other side.  
"… Right." Touko responded, waiting for Celes to close her eyes, before doing the same.


	2. Chapter 1 - New Order

"Say 'Mama'."  
"Uawawa…"  
"God-fu-gggh."

Fuyuhiko groaned as the six-month old child he was holding onto continued to babble nonsensically. Though he had wanted a kid, and loved the kid he had, the fact that there were definitely people more suited to taking care of a child was an undeniable fact. People without robotic limbs, a metal chest, with actual eyes and not just a camera wired directly into the brain. People who could hold a baby without being afraid of accidentally deforming their bones or breaking their tiny limbs. Peko. Peko was more suited to taking care of their daughter. However, she'd already left for her job – her primary job, anyway, as a law enforcement officer.

"Aki got it about 40% correct this time…" Mukuro added from the doorway, as Fuyuhiko quickly handed Aki over to her – mostly for Aki's own safety, or so he told himself. Mukuro gently accepted and held Aki, before giving a smile.  
"Say "Baba"."  
"Awaba…" Aki responded.  
"Forty percent again." Fuyuhiko commented. "Hope she can actually start makin' sense, soon."  
"That'd be good." Mukuro agreed, tossing her head back to get her hair out of her face before turning back to Aki. Before she could open her mouth again, however, the baby erupted into tears.

"F-Cra-ah, uh, what does she want?" Mukuro asked, quickly looking Aki over.  
"Either hungry, sleepy, sh- uh, needs to be changed… Hell, could be anything with a screaming kid."  
"I can feel her stomach growling. She's hungry." Mukuro responded, shifting the crying Aki over to one arm while she grabbed a food purée pouch with the other from a cupboard, taking the cap off.  
"Aaah." Mukuro instructed, hoping that Aki would do the same. To both Fuyuhiko's and her relief, Aki opened her mouth, and Mukuro gently handed the pouch over, watching as Aki started to eat ravenously. 

"Lucky little girl has your eyes." Mukuro commented, electing to sit down on the floor – gently, as to not startle Aki.  
"Yeah, and Peko's hair." Fuyuhiko added, grinning widely. "Wonder what part she'll have of you."  
"I've only got a hand in how she gets raised, not in genetics." Mukuro laughed.  
"Aki'll get at least some of your personality. You're a pretty big part of her life right now."  
"True…" Mukuro looked down at Aki as Fuyuhiko gently stroked the baby's head, looking for a change of topic. "How has the database restoration been going?"  
"You're gonna wanna ask Chihiro that. I don't know shi- anythin' about it." Fuyuhiko stated. "Still, kinda bullshit it's taken nearly five years to repair."  
"A lot of the database analysts were wiped out with the Tragedy… finding people who could restore such a large base is hard, and finding people who have good intentions for it is harder. I think they only managed to find three people willing to restore the database…"  
"Still, five years and they only found three people? That's a load of shit." Fuyuhiko shook his head, though Aki seemed to be content with her food to even notice the conversation going on around her.  
"Chihiro Fujisaki, Miaya Gekkougahara, and Yasuke Matsuda… they were the only ones who could restore the database and keep it up to date without wishing to destroy it."  
"I know, still." Fuyuhiko sighed, as the doorbell sounded from the front. Mukuro made to stand up, but Fuyuhiko shook his head, waving her down. "I got it."

Standing up, he walked towards the front door, yanking it open to greet whoever was at the door-  
"What." He asked, inelegantly. Standing at the door was a young man dressed in a crisp black suit, with short green hair.  
"Hi, I was going to ask if you've got any cyborgs, robots, androids, or CyBERs in the house, but from the looks of things, a cyborg's the one answering the door." The green-haired man replied, holding out his hand. "Koruko Midori, pleasure to meet you, Mr…?"  
"Fuyuhiko Kuzuryuu. What do you want?" Fuyuhiko demanded, hesitantly taking the man's hand.

"I'm here on behalf of the Okugawan government to tell you of a few citizenship changes regarding robotically-enhanced citizens and electronic citizens. To be specific – you will not receive the same citizenship as someone who is fully human." The man began. "Do you- "  
"What the _fuck_ do you mean, I ain't getting the same citizenship as someone who's fully human?!" Fuyuhiko demanded, raising his voice.  
"Sir, the government is simply going door-to-door and informing the citizens of these changes."  
"That ain't answerin' my goddamn question!"  
"It means you're going to be receiving a different set of rights to someone who hasn't undergone cybernetic enhancements." The green-haired man scratched at the back of his head.  
"I didn't get any of this shit done willingly, and I can't take it out. If I take it out, I'll fucking die." Fuyuhiko hissed, shaking his head.  
"Considering you were once human, you won't be losing many of your rights. If your brain hasn't been electronically enhanced, you're still regarded as a 'free thinker'. Hence, you will lose human citizenship, and will be given a different sort of citizenship."  
"Feh…" Fuyuhiko groaned, before adding under his breath, "Bet you're not scrapping supernaturals of their rights."  
"I'm sorry, Mr Kuzuryuu? Also, do you have any other cyborgs, androids, robots, or CyBERs in your house?"  
"Gggh… not right now. We got an android, but he's off with work." Fuyuhiko clutched his fist. "And if you ask when he's comin' back, or hang around our house, I'll fuckin' make you wish you didn't."  
"No need to get violent, Mr Kuzuryuu. We'll be sending an electronic announcement to androids, robots, and CyBERs at around 8pm. It'll be uploaded to any with a connection to the Okugawan grid." The man bowed. "Thank you for your time."

Fuyuhiko groaned as he slammed the door shut, storming back into the living room. Aki had fallen asleep after feeding, somehow able to do so among Fuyuhiko's yelling.  
"… I voted for Harukawa, personally…" Mukuro admitted, gently rocking Aki as she stood back up.  
"Fuckin' election…" Fuyuhiko retorted, lying down on the couch.  
"Did you want Aki back? Mukuro asked, gently holding the small baby out.  
"Probably shouldn't, but whatever. I'll take her." Fuyuhiko held out his right arm, with Mukuro gently placing Aki on his chest.  
"… Do you want a pillow to support her head?" Mukuro asked, tilting her head.  
"Yeah. That's probably a good idea." Fuyuhiko's right hand supported the small child's head for the time being as Mukuro gently slid a small pillow underneath. "Thanks."  
"No problem… should I take a trip to the Capitol, try to get the government to rethink their decision?"  
"… Fuck it, if it starts seriously affectin' me, I'll go there myself." Fuyuhiko's rough attitude created an interesting contrast with the child in his arm, with him being as gentle as he could with the small kid. "For now… fuck it. I'll see where it goes."

"I trust your judgement, Fuyuhiko…" Mukuro stated, sitting on the ground next to him. "Peko should be home soon. You should probably talk to her about it."  
"Mukuro, you and I both know that if I talk to her about it, she's going to go to the Capitol regardless of what I say." Fuyuhiko gently stroked Aki's head. "She's one of the most stubborn people I've ever met, and that's a double-edged sword."  
"… Pun intended?" Mukuro asked after a moment of silence.  
"Fuck off." Fuyuhiko smirked, shaking his head. "If it gets seriously bad… I'll go to Lagaard. Heck, maybe Peko'll come with."  
"And… uh, who'll take care of Aki?"  
"… Fuck, I knew there was a hole in the plan." Fuyuhiko groaned. "Can't hire a babysitter for several goddamn days…"  
"… I could stay here with Chihiro and take care of her. Between the two of us, we'll probably be able to keep her happy."  
"You sure you can handle that?"  
Mukuro chuckled. "We've both prevented the world from falling into a dark age of despair, in your case twice, and you're asking me if I can handle a kid."  
"Point taken. If you're sure." Fuyuhiko smirked. "Still… that's only if we actually need to go to the goddamn Capitol."  
"Yeah… for now, let's just see where this law goes."

Outside, the clouds had long turned grey, threatening to unleash a torrent of rain – considering the cooling October weather of Okugawa, it wasn't necessarily a welcome rainstorm. It was just more cold. Sighing, Mukuro stood up, beginning to close any and all open windows.  
"I… might put on a shooter, probably Bionite, and play for a little while. I'll keep the sound down so Aki can sleep." She commented afterwards, picking up the prop gun and raising her voice so the console could hear it, though not enough to wake Aki up. "VirtuFace, on. Launch Bionite."

Fuyuhiko blank-facedly watched, keeping Aki relaxed, comfortable, and asleep as Mukuro ventured around the living room, surprisingly doing well for a multiplayer virtual shooter – though he'd never seen anyone as good a shot as Mukuro. However, soon the onscreen gunshots, Mukuro's manuvers, the thunderstorm outside, and the shouts of confirmed kills began to blur together – even blurring with some of his memories from four years prior. Sighing, he eventually turned his attention entirely to his daughter, gently stroking her hair as she slept soundly, and awaited Peko's return from her job.


	3. Chapter 2 - Sorcerer's Call

"Daddy, daddy, look what I drew!"  
"Haha… you're certainly growing talented, aren't you, Kazuki?"

Makoto smiled brightly as Kazuki presented a sheet of paper to him, doodled all over with crayons, displaying a messily scribbled sun illuminating a bright, green field, with flowers of all colours adorning the sheet. A huge grin was spread across the young boy's face in response to his father's smile, and Kazuki began jumping up and down excitedly.  
"Here's mine…" a second child's voice stated, a young girl, as she brandished a sheet – one scribbled all over with various colours – blues, greens, purples, and whites, all mixing, all over the page.  
"That's amazing, Naoko! You've both made beautiful pictures…" Makoto stated with a smile. "Here, we'll put them on the wall with the others, if you want."

Makoto's suggestions were met with enthusiastic nods from both children – a pair of twins. Makoto smiled, applying tape to the corners of the paper, before heading over to a wall. A wall that started out clean for three years since the two moved in had, in the last 6 months, taken on a lot of images. The metallic wall was almost completely hidden behind messy drawings by a pair of three, almost four-year-olds. Makoto stood up on the tips of his toes as he taped the two drawings to one of the free spaces in the wall, being careful to not overlap the pictures already there.

"U-uh, Makoto…?" Mikan's voice called from the other side of the room, over by the television set. "A-Are you listening in on the news? U-Uh… Kokichi Ouma got elected Senator of Lagaard…"  
Makoto's smile faded in an instant as he turned his head. "He… he did? A lot of his policies involved mistreating anybody with robotics in their systems… why would anyone vote him?"  
"I… I don't know…" Mikan admitted, clasping her hands together. "I-I definitely didn't…"  
"Hey, mommy's sad again…" Kazuki huffed, frowning.  
"I-I'm sorry, I should be putting on a braver face for you…!" Mikan stammered, before stifling herself, trying to prevent herself from bursting into tears. "I-It'll be OK for you. Everything will be fine… o-ok?"  
"OK, mommy." Naoko nodded, as she toddled over and gently wrapped her arms around Mikan's neck. Mikan gently wrapped her arms around Naoko's back as a response, standing up and lifting her into the air.

"U-Um, it's nearly 7pm…" Mikan pointed out, much to Kazuki's discomfort.  
"C'moooon, can we stay up a little longer, pleaaaase?" He pouted, folding his arms.  
"Staying up so late isn't good for you… you should get rest." Makoto added, smiling. "We'll make pancakes for breakfast tomorrow morning, OK?"  
Kazuki huffed for a moment, before rolling his eyes. "… Okaaaaay." With Kazuki's protests dying, Makoto gently picked him up, placing the young boy on his hip. Naoko yawned as the two siblings were carried upstairs, gently placed into their rooms.  
"Can you read us a story? Pleaaaaase?" Kazuki asked as Makoto placed him down, gently pulling the sheets over him.  
"Ehe… uh, Mikan, do you have any?" Makoto asked, rubbing the back of his neck with a nervous smile.  
"I-I have a lot, b-but… you shouldn't really be telling them to small children…" Mikan admitted, before giving a smile. "T-Though I do have one I can probably tell."  
"C'moooon, mommy, tell us! Tell us!" Kazuki chanted excitedly, while Naoko gave an enthusiastic nod in agreement.  
"A-Alright… p-please, settle down, and I'll tell you." Mikan smiled, gently pushing a piece of Naoko's hair back into place.

 _A long time ago, in a kingdom now gone, a pair of powerful nobles gave birth to a gorgeous baby girl. The girl was gifted in many ways – beautiful, intelligent, and talented, but also kind and benevolent, qualities that only grew as she grew older. She lived in an eternal kingdom, where one would never become old. Though even though her body never grew older, her mind took on much knowledge – and much sadness. No matter what man courted her, she couldn't return the love they gave her in the same way that men loved her – and the women she attempted to court felt the same way she did about the men._

 _Centuries passed, and though she didn't age a day in body, her mind had seen a lot. Sometimes, it was difficult for her to separate good from evil at all. An evil queen from a neighbouring kingdom sought to use her power and intelligence for her own means. The queen, however, had recruited many young men, women, and people, taken from horrible lives, and given a new chance to fight under her – though there was no kindness or generosity to the queen's demands. However, under the rule of the queen, the noble-born woman would be truly free – one day._

 _The noble-born woman met another – a woman of the modern era, with deep red hair, and freckles across her face. The red-haired girl was used for her eyes, a photographic memory, by the Queen. Though the two caused much destruction under the queen's order… it brought them closer. The two realised their love for each other – and that the queen was simply using them. A rebellion force had been started against the queen, but the two women were terrified of what happened to traitors, and terrified to lose what they had. And so, they eloped, hoping to start a new life together. They lived happily ever after, but nobody knows where… some believe they are still alive today, waiting for a chance to return to the cities._

Mikan looked over to see both Kazuki and Naoko, fast asleep and snoring soundly. With a gentle smile, she and Makoto stood up, slowly turning the light off, and exiting their children's room – where they could discuss what they had seen on the news.  
"D-Do you think our friends are going to be OK? T-The law Ouma's passing might harm them severely…" Mikan stammered, as the two began to walk towards their own room.

Makoto shook his head. There was no use lying to Mikan – her question was rhetorical.  
"His law's planning to insist that a robot isn't human… that they don't deserve rights because their brain was engineered rather than naturally formed. Nanami-san, Komaeda-san, Kuzuryuu-san… they're all going to be affected by this." He sighed, opening the door to their room.  
"There… there has to be something we can do…" Mikan responded, walking in and taking her braid out of her hair, sitting in front of the mirror and gently going through it with a brush. "E-Even if one of us stays here to take care of Kazuki and Naoko…"  
"There… there's probably a hotel of some kind in Lagaard now. If we made the trip from Aeston to there, we could probably take it in turns to investigate what's going on…" Makoto rubbed the back of his head. "But I don't want to put you or them in danger. I… I couldn't forgive myself if I did."  
Mikan gave a weak smile. "Makoto… remember when we were trying to avoid being murdered by Kamukura, a-and you suggested we split up? I… I said the same thing… and you turned out OK in the end. Ouma… h-he's nowhere near the same threat level as Enoshima, or Kamukura."  
Makoto frowned, starting to crawl into bed after changing into his nightclothes – though it was only a pair of shorts. "Are… are you sure?"  
"U-Um… we'll ask how Kazuki and Naoko feel about it tomorrow, but… y-yes, if it's possible, I-I'm sure. If we don't do anything, th-then it'll feel like we've gotten weak, or we've stopped caring…"  
Makoto smiled, as Mikan finally finished brushing her hair and slipped into bed. She was a compassionate person… though he did worry she put herself in harm's way a bit too often.

"… Is everything alright? Y-You seem a bit distracted… are you getting sick?" Mikan pressed her hand up to Makoto's forehead, who gently grabbed her wrist and guided it back down.  
"Y-Yeah... I'm just distracted." Makoto admitted, giving a gentle, sleepy smile. "We should probably sleep on this… if that's even possible."  
"Ehe… I can think of a few ways to help us sleep easier." Mikan shifted closer to Makoto, giving a gentle kiss to his cheek.  
"I wouldn't mind cuddling tonight, if that's alright…" Makoto admitted, rubbing the back of his neck.  
"That's fine." Mikan replied, gently wrapping her arms around Makoto's shoulders. Makoto returned the gesture, and the two lay in silence, closing their eyes, enjoying each other's embrace as sleep began to claim them.


	4. Chapter 3 - Come Hell Or High Roller

The bustling of the Copper Arm Tavern ran rampant throughout its refurbished bar. Kokichi's propositions had not gone unnoticed by the general public, and the tavern that night would be a climax for the outburst of activity that followed it; fights, arguments, and, if the ambulance wasn't called fast enough, possibly death, were going to be problems faced all night. Mondo sighed as the patrons began to get rowdy. As much as he'd have liked to join in, he had a duty as the owner of the establishment to hold up. In addition, several of his patrons were machines – androids, cyborgs, and robots. A pair stood near the door, talking to each other – a young cyborg male in his early to mid-20s, dressed sharply in a black and white suit with a red tie, talking affectionately to an android female – possibly a few years old, though kept in good condition, dressed in a black and red French maid's dress, a white headband adorning her hair and head. However, the affection between the two soon disappeared, becoming replaced with more business-like talk.

"Are you at all worried about the new laws being put in place?" Chiaki asked, readjusting the cuff on her sleeve.  
"I don't see a reason to be. Sure, things look bad, but remaining hopeful is the one thing I can do in this situation." Nagito responded, running a metal hand gently through his hair – his hands kept beneath white gloves to avoid catching hair or skin while he did this, though his metallic jaw made his condition all too obvious.  
"I know… hope can carry you far. Still, we don't know exactly what Ouma's going to put in place." Chiaki replied, dusting off her apron before folding her hands together in front of it.  
"I don't think he'd risk falling out of the public's favour when he's only just arrived in office. This is usually the time where, rather than simply being annulled or impeached, unpopular candidates are usually assassinated." Nagito chuckled, before he paused as Chiaki frowned at the mention of assassination. Nagito coughed, before continuing. "Do you think Celes will arrive soon?"  
Chiaki seemed almost relieved due to the change of topic. "I hope so… she's not usually late, so she can't be that far away."

As if on cue, the door beside the pair opened, Celes walking through among a pair of taller patrons, though she had no relation to them, or even a remote interest in them. Though the patrons immediately headed towards the bar, Celes' path took her to Nagito and Chiaki.  
"Good evening. I trust you're doing well?" Nagito greeted with a smile, to which Celes presented one of her own.  
"Wonderful, thank you." She responded, though her tone was at least slightly forced. "Has anyone requested a game against me tonight?"  
"One man has so far. He looks to be in his 40s, brownish-red hair, dressed in a red suit. He's requested darts." Chiaki informed, before screwing her face up a little and providing a tidbit of her own personal thoughts. "Also, he seriously needs to invest in dental hygiene."  
Celes sighed disdainfully at Chiaki's description, before shaking her head. "Well, let's see him."

"Evening." The man said as Nagito and Chiaki introduced Celes to him, holding out his hand and giving a wide smile – and Celes instantly agreed with Chiaki's comment on the condition of his mouth, several of the man's teeth were orange or even starting to go black. With a forced smile, Celes greeted him back, with Nagito taking the handshake in her place.  
"… Good evening. So, you wished to play darts against me?" Celes asked, continuing to smile politely, though forcedly – quite clearly forcedly.  
"Your understanding is as sharp as you and your friends here are dressed, Ms Ludenberg." The man responded, before bowing and taking a seat at one of the tables. "Haru Akihiro, your opponent this evening."  
"I trust I will not have to introduce myself, you seem to know who I am. Very well, let us begin." Celes mimicked his gesture; the second one, anyway, of seating herself on the opposite side of the table.  
"Before we do, Ms Ludenberg," Haru trailed off, before shoving a bottle towards her – the contents dark even in the tavern's decent lighting, though the bottle already clearly opened, even with the cork replaced. "Consider this a gesture of goodwill before we begin."

Celes frowned as the drink was shoved towards her, unable to hide her distrust; perhaps unwilling to hide her distrust.  
"I can see your concern, Ms Ludenberg. Don't fret. It's non-alcoholic wine." Haru replied, smiling warmly – though the state of his mouth made it quite repulsive. Celes briefly turned towards Nagito and Chiaki, before responding with a smile. "If I may have a moment, I'll take a drink once I know whether my companions would be happy having one as well."  
"Your friends are more than welcome to share a drink with you." Haru replied.

The three turned their backs to Haru, keeping their voices to a whisper, though Celes made sure to keep her gestures to her lie.  
"I don't trust this man as far as I could throw him, and I couldn't even lift him." She admitted, though faced Nagito as she did so. Nagito shook his head, assisting with the lie the three were putting on.  
"You shouldn't. He's lying, that drink's almost 50% alcohol. I took a quick scan once he presented it over. I don't know what he's planning, but if it requires you drinking that much alcohol, it can't be good."  
"And uh, miss Nanami?" Celes said, raising her voice, before lowering it again. "I'll have it under control soon, don't worry."  
"Alright…" Chiaki replied, before shaking her own head. With a smile, the three turned back to Haru.

"I've talked it over with my companions." Celes began, gently leaning over towards the bottle, placing her hand on its neck as she pulled the cork out, far too easily. "They don't want a drink… and quite frankly, neither do I." With that, Celes set a fire spell into action, the fire leeching into the bottle through the remnants of alcohol on the bottle. Celes pulled away as the glass bottle became the host to a small bonfire, and as it seemingly melted away Haru's smile.

"… So, did you still wish to play darts?" Celes asked with a knowing giggle, as Haru stood up. After standing up, Haru knocked the table onto its face, shattering the remnants of burning glass across the tiled floor.  
"You little bitch! How could you have possibly known what was in that bottle?!" He hissed, making his way towards Celes, walking over the tipped table.  
"Oi!" A loud, booming voice called across the tavern, silencing almost every conversation occurring by startling the participants. "You think you can just fuck around, knock over whatever you want, and bring your own fuckin' alcohol into my tavern?!" Mondo shouted, pushing past patrons as he ran towards Haru. " **Leave** , damnit!"  
Haru didn't need to be told twice; one look at Mondo's physique and rage sent him limping out of the door, disappearing into the evening.

"An assassination attempt, or simply someone trying to get what nobody can? Tch… I guess that'll remain a mystery I don't care about." Celes stated, shaking her head, as Chiaki flipped the table back onto its legs, being careful to avoid the shattered bottle.  
"Yo, thanks." Mondo stated, before helping Chiaki with the broken glass from the bottle, gathering pieces of it into a dustpan and brush.

"An interesting display, Celestia." A voice called out, prompting Celes and Nagito to turn in its direction. The two laid eyes on a young man possessing greenish-blonde hair, and eyes of the same colour. His neck, wrists, and fingers were adorned with various cheap necklaces, bracelets, and rings, and his clothes seemed basic- a sweater and a pair of beige slacks. He greeted the two with a smile, though seemed vaguely cautious.  
"I'll take that as a compliment, sir." Celes responded, a hand starting to twist a piece of her hair.  
"Ah, my apologies. Allow me to introduce myself." The man waved. "My name is Rantaro Amami. Of course, you're a high-ranking diplomat, so few people in Lagaard don't know who you are."  
"And your point about my job is? Are you here to play a game, or simply waste my time?" Celes sighed, as Nagito frowned, looking Rantaro over. Something about how casual he was, yet how he also seemed formal, just seemed… off.  
"Well, I haven't any interest in darts, though if you would be willing to play a game of chess…" Rantaro offered.  
"… We'll flip a coin to decide who plays white." Celes concluded, accepting the challenge after a few moments of thinking.

A round of bets placed by tavern-goers, Rantaro losing the coin toss, and two hours later, the two players appeared to be locked in a stalemate. Though Celes' mental capabilities were staggering, luck gave her an edge that couldn't be beaten – an edge she unfortunately lost in games relying on pure strategy. It seemed neither Rantaro nor Celes could beat the other.  
"… It's fairly obvious neither of us can beat the other. Want to call it a tie?" Rantaro offered, shrugging.  
"It isn't going to look good on my record here, but neither is 'passed out during a chess game'. Tie." Celes responded, looking vaguely bored. Her interest in Rantaro had been rapidly declining for the last 90 minutes, and as she stood up from the table, she seemed to be more eager than usual to leave the tavern.

"I thought that game wouldn't end for another three hours... if at all. It was basically a king chase at that point." Chiaki admitted, as she pushed herself through the tavern's doors.  
"… Hey, Chiaki, can you accompany Celes home on your own tonight? There's something about that Amami guy that… well, it doesn't sit right with me. He's strange, for just another patron here." Nagito added, as soon as the three were outside.  
"And you're going to investigate, on your own?" Celes asked.  
"Well, why not?" Nagito replied.  
"If your suspicions are correct, it could be dangerous…" Chiaki pointed out.  
"I've ran at powerful undead horrors with a sword almost as big as Hiyoko was. I think I'm pretty used to danger by now." Nagito chuckled.  
"… Very well. I know you won't take this advice to heart, but be careful." Celes concluded, as she and Chiaki walked one way, and Nagito headed back into the Copper Arm.

Nagito ventured back inside, keeping an eye out for Rantaro. However, as Nagito glanced across the tavern, he seemed unable to locate him – though it would've been impossible for Rantaro to have left, as Chiaki, Celes and he would have seen him leaving. Frowning, Nagito glanced across the tavern again, before deciding to head upstairs. Perhaps he had gone to the lounge? Nagito took himself up the stairs, venturing towards the lounge.

The lounge hadn't changed during the refurbishment: it was still the same old lounge, though the furniture had been replaced at some point. And, to Nagito's luck and hopes, Rantaro was exactly where he had suspected he would be, sitting on one of the lounges, apparently in the middle of a call, as evidenced by the device on his mouth and ear.

"Yeah… her eyes look strange, but I doubt they're actually cyberized. I mean, that necromancer a few years back reportedly had eyes that look strange, but when they investigated him, there wasn't a trace of cybernetic augments anywhere in his body." Rantaro reported, apparently facing away from the door, simply staring out the massive window. However, as Nagito took a few steps closer to get a closer listen, Rantaro suddenly turned his head back.  
"Uh, sorry. I'll have to talk to you later. I love you." Rantaro said, blowing a kiss to the device, before sliding his finger and putting the device away. Smiling happily, he turned back to face Nagito. "Hi, may I help you?"  
"Uh… yeah. Who were you just talking to?" Nagito asked, tilting his head.  
"Oh? Ah, just my boyfriend. When you left, he wanted to know how I was doing, and well, I wound up just talking about my match with Celestia. I'm sure she'd have a few things to say to her lover about how I look or play, if she had one." Rantaro replied, chuckling.  
"I see…" Nagito replied. Sighing, he placed himself on the seat opposite Rantaro. Something still didn't sit right, but his response did check out.

"I'd offer a shared drink, but after the fiasco with the other patron, I think you might be a little on edge about drinks." Rantaro scratched behind his ear. "I'm not even sure if your body could handle it, anyway, considering, well…" He gestured to Nagito's body in general.  
"It's fine. I've had it before. I'll get it." Nagito stated, standing back up and heading towards the door. "Any preference?"  
"A white wine, if that's possible." Rantaro replied, smiling.  
"Yeah, that's fine." Nagito stated, before heading back downstairs to get the bottle.

Rantaro sighed, staring out the window. This would be harder than he thought.


	5. Chapter 4 - Warm Goodbye, Cold Journey

"We are going to Lagaard."

Fuyuhiko and Mukuro had both predicted that this would happen, that their girlfriend would eventually find out about Senator Ouma's plans regarding cybernetic citizens; though they had hoped that it wouldn't be while she was at work. As it was, as soon as Peko had arrived home, she'd thrown the door open so loud that Aki awoke, tossed her policeman's cap aside onto a nearby counter island, and stated that as her greeting – convicted in her ideas and her mind unable to be changed.

Aki, disturbed by the loud noises, started to cry out, her tiny fists bashing against the long-inactive plasma cannon surrounding Fuyuhiko's heart.  
"H-Hey, hey, settle down, damnit, it's just your mom." Fuyuhiko stated, gently trying to hold Aki's fists back – for her own safety rather than his, as the cannon was made of tough iron, and Aki was made of skin, bone, flesh, and muscle. Hearing her beginning to cry out, Peko gently picked Aki up, holding her close so the baby's head was supported on her shoulder.  
"Shh, shh. It's ok." Peko stated, as Aki continued to push away, before eventually settling down against Peko's grasp; a gentle, but firm grasp, serving to hold her steady and keep her in place. "Shhh…" 

"I-I heard a slamming noise, is everything alright?!" A voice called from the stairwell, echoing off the walls, as Chihiro darted down the stairs and into the living room.  
"It's fine. Peko got home, she heard the news while at work, and… well, I don't think she's takin' it too well." Fuyuhiko explained, as Peko nodded in agreement to his guess.  
"I think that the new Senator needs a visit, personally." She added, settling down as Aki slowly started to succumb to sleep again.  
"Y-Yeah… Chiaki's just as intelligent as any human, a-and both she and Fuyuhiko have been responsible for saving Okugawa, twice!" Chihiro agreed, clenching his fists determinedly. "Telling them they're less than human is so cruel…"  
"But we can't all go to Lagaard… someone's got to take care of Aki." Mukuro pointed out. "I-I mean, I'll volunteer if nobody else does, but someone has to stay behind."  
"I… well, I do not wish to stay behind, but if it would be better if I did, I will." Peko added. "It is probably best at least one of Aki's parents remains behind, anyway, though I will arrive as fast as possible if needed."  
"Still, someone should probably go with Fuyuhiko…" Chihiro stated. "Since you two are staying here, I-I'll go with him."  
"Thanks, man." Fuyuhiko gently nudged Chihiro's shoulder, offering a grin.

"So, me and Chihiro're headin' to Lagaard. When?" Fuyuhiko continued, folding his arms.  
"As soon as possible would be a good idea. Tonight, possibly." Peko responded, as she sat back down, readjusting Aki so that she lay in both of her arms.  
"Tonight?! There aren't that many trains heading into Lagaard from now until tomorrow, a-and it'd take a while to get there…" Chihiro folded his hands together, sliding down in his seat. "That, and packing could take a while…"  
Peko stood up. "If either of you need help, I'm willing to do so. Let me just put Aki to bed first."  
"I got her." Mukuro held her hand up. Peko nodded in response, handing Aki over.  
"Alright. Thank you." She replied, before turning to Chihiro and Fuyuhiko. "So, do you think you'll go tonight?"  
"… We ain't really got a choice. Chihiro and I'll pack some clothes, money, shit like that." Fuyuhiko responded, folding his arms before giving a slight smirk.  
"Just necessities… you think Mondo'll let us stay at the Copper Arm?" Chihiro asked.  
"He was pretty understandin' when shit went to absolute hell in Lagaard. I'm pretty sure he'd understand now." Fuyuhiko responded.  
"Yeah… yeah, you're right. I hope…" Chihiro pushed himself to his feet, before going to pack, leaving Fuyuhiko and Peko alone.

"… Are you going to be alright?" Peko asked, frowning concernedly.  
"Yeah, I'm gonna be fine. Compared to Enoshima and Kamukura? This guy's gonna be a breeze." Fuyuhiko replied, grinning confidently.  
"Alright." Peko replied, before placing her hands on Fuyuhiko's shoulders. "If anything starts going wrong, call me, and I'll be there as fast as I can."  
"Hey, hey, it's fine. I'm gonna be fine." Fuyuhiko placed his hands onto Peko's shoulders, as the two pulled each other into a gentle embrace.  
"Alright… if you're sure." Peko gave a gentle kiss to Fuyuhiko's cheek, before slowly trailing them to his lips. As she moved to kiss his lips, however, he moved in, kissing her back. 

"A-Ahem… uh, Aki's in bed, Peko." Mukuro cleared her throat, as Peko and Fuyuhiko pulled away from each other, both at least slightly pink in the cheeks.  
"I'm gonna go start packin'." Fuyuhiko scratched his neck, before standing up and heading towards his room. Now, it was Mukuro's turn to be left alone with Peko. 

"You think they're gonna be alright?" Mukuro asked, scratching the back of her neck as she sat down next to Peko.  
"Fuyuhiko's confident in his abilities… I'm hoping they'll be fine. Of course, I've already offered to go if they call and say that I'm needed." Peko replied, tucking her legs onto the couch.  
"Alright…" Mukuro trailed off, before giggling. "Does this mean we have the whole house to ourselves?"  
"Mukuro..." Peko gave a slight laugh of her own.  
"Well, obviously, sex is out of the question, we have a baby in the house." Mukuro wrapped an arm around Peko's shoulders. "Still, I don't think Aki'll mind too much if we kiss a little. Or a lot."  
"You've got a point." Peko gave a slight smile, leaning in and resting her forehead on Mukuro's. Mukuro smiled a little herself, before leaning in for a kiss.

Meanwhile, the differences in Chihiro and Fuyuhiko's packing styles were obvious. Chihiro packed as neatly and tightly as he could to fit everything he needed, while Fuyuhiko resorted to throwing things in and using his body weight to make sure that everything fit inside. However, the latter ran into a problem trying to shove a pillow into the bag – no matter how he tried, it wouldn't stay down and go inside.  
"Uh, Chihiro? Little help here?" Fuyuhiko asked, Chihiro looking over and noticing the pillow unceremoniously sticking out of the top, the bag unable to be closed.  
"One second." Chihiro zipped his bag shut, before pushing the top of Fuyuhiko's bag shut, lying on top of it and compressing the contents enough to allow the bag to close.  
"Thanks, man." Fuyuhiko replied, as he finally shut the bag, before leaning over and gently ruffling Chihiro's hair.  
"No problem!" Chihiro smiled as he pushed himself back to his feet. "Um… in regards to money, I have about 1,500GP on me. What about you?"  
"About the same. We ain't buyin' a weapon or a car, so it shouldn't be that much of a concern." Fuyuhiko responded, giving a smirk.  
"Y-Yeah… just a couple of train tickets and a place in the Copper Arm. We'd be sharing again, right…?" Chihiro inquired, seating himself on his own bag.  
"Depends on if you want to, and if not, whether we'd have the money to go into separate rooms." Fuyuhiko answered, to which Chihiro shook his head.  
"I don't mind sharing with you, Fuyuhiko. I mean, we're bros, right?" Chihiro asked, folding his hand, to which Fuyuhiko gave a grin.  
"Yeah, of course we are. Aight, sharing it is, then." He replied, as he stood up with his bag.  
"Then we should probably get going… uh, Mukuro'll probably have to drive us." Chihiro admitted, shortly reminiscing in his failed driving test – sitting on a stack of phone books didn't do wonders for his confidence.

"Alright, have you got everything?" Mukuro asked, as she opened the drivers-side door to a decent-sized 4-PlasmaGenerator car (she had insisted on getting one, in case an apocalyptic scenario ever reared its ugly head again), stepping up into the vehicle and resting her arms on the car's roof.  
"Yeah, don't worry." Chihiro responded, as he pushed himself into the car, scrambling over to the furthermost seat and placing his bag at his feet.  
"Remember, if you need me, call me." Peko reminded Fuyuhiko, one more time.  
"Yeah, yeah. Don't worry so much, Peko. I'm gonna be fine." Fuyuhiko smirked, giving her a 'thumbs up'.  
"Right. Good luck, and I'll see you later." Peko replied, before leaning down and gently giving him a peck on the lips. Fuyuhiko chuckled a little as it connected, before jumping into the back seat, placing his bag on the floor as well. Mukuro momentarily departed from the vehicle to say her own goodbyes – though she wouldn't be gone long.  
"I'll be about twenty minutes – ten there, ten back. Maybe half an hour if traffic is bad." Mukuro reported.  
"Alright. See you soon." Peko replied, as Mukuro gently kissed Peko's cheek, before returning to the vehicle, opening the garage door and leaving the house.

Ten minutes and two techno songs later, Mukuro's car had parked itself just outside the train station. Fuyuhiko and Chihiro slowly clambered out, pushing their bags out first before crawling out themselves.  
"Alright, I checked as we were coming, the next train heading through from Kaishi to Lagaard is in 10 minutes or so. You might wanna get in quickly." Mukuro stated, to Fuyuhiko and Chihiro's nods.  
"Hey, thanks. We'll talk as soon as we arrive, OK?" Fuyuhiko insisted, to which Mukuro nodded in approval.  
"Good luck, OK?" Mukuro stated, as she pulled away, making the trip back home.

"Single-railed bullet train, powered on plasma generators… considering the distance, we should be in Lagaard in about… uh, seven hours. Since it's 8:20pm now… we should be there at 2:30am. That's… that's pretty early." Chihiro stated, as the two pulled up into the station.  
"Aight, and the double-railed train?" Fuyuhiko asked, grabbing onto Chihiro's hand and holding it as the two navigated the bustling station.  
"Um… twelve hours by the double-rail." Chihiro pointed out, pointing at the sign. "Though it departs from Platform 3…"  
"Then we better hurry over. I don't feel like wanderin' Lagaard at 2am, or the station for 2 hours." Fuyuhiko concluded.

Three minutes later, the two boys were seated on the train, the smaller one panting heavily and trying to catch his breath, as the train started pulling out of the station.  
"Hey, you ok?" Fuyuhiko asked, leaning over and gently holding Chihiro's hand.  
"Y-Yeah… just… kind of… out of breath…" Chihiro panted, trying to calm his racing heart and lungs.

"Huh… funny seeing you here." A voice stated, and Fuyuhiko turned his head to the seats directly across from him. Reclining across one of the seats was a vaguely familiar face – so vague it took Fuyuhiko a few moments to remember it, causing him to frown, scouring his memory for the answer.  
"… Kiibo." The robot responded, and it took Fuyuhiko only a couple more seconds before remembering. Looking to Kiibo's side, Fuyuhiko noticed another familiar face – though not one he was quite willing to greet. Standing tall with blonde hair, blue eyes, dressed like she just fell out of a human/robot BDSM flick, and with a sharp and honestly discomforting tongue – Miu Iruma was not someone he wanted to meet again.  
"… Hey." Fuyuhiko waved slightly, to which Miu turned her head.  
"Oh, you again!" Miu greeted. She opened her mouth to say more, but evidentially her brain-to-mouth filter kicked in at the right time, and she avoided saying something she would regret.  
"What're you doing here?" Kiibo continued, tilting his head.  
"Goin' to Lagaard, givin' the new Senator a piece of my mind." Fuyuhiko responded.  
"… Well, that's a coincidence. We were going to do the same thing." Kiibo frowned, scratching his head.  
"Nobody tells my creations they're less than human and gets away with it!" Miu responded, huffing. "Not to mention, while it's not obvious, I've got some cyber enhancements in my own body… seriously, I ain't any less human because I wanted to see whether I could get Kiibo to stick an analysing unit in my eye."  
"Uh, don't talk about sticking things in your eye, please…" Chihiro piped up, grabbing onto Fuyuhiko's hand – and had noticed it had begun trembling.  
"Ah, geez, you must've been through a ton…" Miu mumbled under her breath, before turning back to the window.

"A-Again, you'll have to excuse her…" Kiibo pushed two of his fingers together nervously. "She's a little wound up over this."  
"Bah, this time, I ain't able to blame her. This guy's a fuckin' prick." Fuyuhiko began reclining on the seat he was situated on, offering a smirk.  
"Yes, I… well, I wouldn't use the exact words, … 'Freezing puck', but I agree." Kiibo responded.  
"Yeah… uh, though it will take a while to get to Lagaard." Chihiro piped up, before yawning a little.  
"You gettin' sleepy, there?" Fuyuhiko asked, moving towards his bag.  
"Y-Hey, don't open that! N-Not here, anyway…" Chihiro held his hands out. "I'll get my own pillow out… you should be careful with your bag. If you open it, it could e- uh, blast your clothes all over the place."  
"Trying to come up with a nicer way of saying 'explode'?" Miu asked, turning her head back towards the three.  
"One that won't get security curious…" Chihiro admitted, as he opened his bag and pulled a small, grey-green pillow out of it. Situating it on the armrest, he laid down, resting his head against the pillow, and allowing the rocking of the train to try and lull him into sleep.

"Aaah… little guy's probably got the right idea. Can't really see much at night, may as well get some sleep." Miu admitted, amidst a stretch and a yawn.  
"Yeah, I guess…" Kiibo added, before slumping over in his chair, switching himself into sleep mode. Fuyuhiko sighed, turning his gaze towards the window, slowly resting his head against it. As rain began to pour outside, the train pulling into a small substation to pick up a few more passengers, he felt himself beginning to succumb to rest. He welcomed it; if it was a decent rest, it could be the last one he'd have for a while.


	6. Chapter 5 - Dawn Of A Fateful Meeting

"Naoko, wake up, wake up! C'moooon, get up!"

Kazuki energetically prodded at his twin sister's bed and at her body, jumping up and down, eagerly attempting to rouse the small girl to consciousness. "Dad said we're gonna get pancakes for breakfast!"  
"OK, ok." Naoko replied sleepily, yawning and pushing herself to a sitting position. Kazuki continued to grin giddily, as he held onto his sister's hands as soon as they came out of their hiding place beneath the blanket.  
"C'mooon, Naoko, you're so slow!" He shouted happily, as he practically dragged Naoko out of her bed and out into the hall. Naoko rubbed at her eyes as she followed her brother, small feet stumbling, her bedsheet caught on her foot for several steps out into the hallway as a sleepy smile made its way onto her face. Kazuki rushed up to his parent's door, knocking on it rapidly, shortly joined by Naoko's knocking.

Makoto awoke as soon as he heard the bashing of small, child-like fists on his door, a panic-response momentarily setting in as he tossed the covers aside and broke out of Mikan's embrace, before he noticed the bright morning sun streaming through the slivers in the blinds, and he felt himself beginning to calm down. However, as he calmed down, the opposite reaction occurred in his wife. Mikan stirred, panic beginning to set in for her.  
"W-What is it, Makoto?! A-Are Kazuki and Naoko alright?!" She stammered, pushing herself from their bed. Makoto quickly darted around, climbing over their bed, and gently grabbed onto Mikan's shoulders.  
"It's OK, it's OK. They're alright. It's morning. I… ehe, I thought it was around 2am." Makoto offered a smile. "I think their biggest concern is being hungry." With Makoto's words resonating in her mind, Mikan took a couple of deep breaths, beginning to calm herself down.  
"A-Alright… y-yeah, you're right, Makoto." Mikan gave a weak smile as her nerves and anxiety started to wear off.  
"Mooom, daaad, you promised pancakes for breakfast!" Kazuki's voice rang from outside. Makoto gave a nervous laugh, before calling out his response.  
"We'll just be a few minutes, we're going to get dressed!"

"And… we'll probably have to wear something good. Something neat, if we're going to be travelling to Lagaard. It's not that far, but… Aeston's a fishing village, and Lagaard's on the inland. So… well, it's still a five-hour trip." Makoto stated, as he pulled a black t-shirt over his torso.  
"R-Right… um, we should still probably discuss it with Naoko and Kazuki before we do anything…" Mikan replied, as she pulled a light pink and blue sundress over her body.  
"Uh, y-yeah… Let's not jump to a conclusion." Makoto laughed nervously as he pulled on a pair of black slacks. "Uh, the floors are polished wood, I don't think we need shoes right now, and they're getting pretty rowdy…"  
Mikan nodded in agreement.

"Uggggh, they're taking so loooong!" Kazuki stomped his foot impatiently.  
"They're gonna be here soon, Kazuki…" Naoko responded, rubbing at her eyes. As if on-cue, the door opened, revealing Makoto and Mikan on the other side.  
"Mom, dad!" Kazuki said, immediately wrapping his arms around Mikan's leg.  
"Ehehe… good morning!" Mikan greeted, gently prying Kazuki off her leg and carrying him up onto her hip.  
"You promised pancakes, right? We're starving!" Kazuki replied, though being clearly hyperbolic.  
"W-Well, he's starving, I'm just hungry." Naoko admitted.  
"If you're hungry, we're supposed to feed you. That's our job as parents who love you, right?" Makoto laughed, holding onto Naoko's hand, as the family of four started to head into the kitchen.

Fifteen minutes later, the smell of maple syrup, vanilla ice cream, and freshly-baked pancakes had filled the modest, silvery, brightly-lit kitchen. Kazuki dug a fork excitedly into his food, while Naoko was more reserved with her eating habits. Makoto simply smiled, resting his head on his hand as he watched his kids.  
"U-Um… your father and I wanted to bring up something important…" Mikan raised her hand as she nervously attempted to gather attention.  
"Yes, mommy?" Naoko asked, putting her fork down, as Kazuki directed his gaze towards his parents, cheeks stuffed with food.  
"Right… well, we're just a little concerned with the state of things in Lagaard, and… well, both your mother and I have a history of doing things about it…" Makoto began, prodding at his pancake with a fork.  
"Is that why mom's eye is like that?" Naoko asked, pointing to her own left eye for emphasis, with Mikan giving a solemn nod.  
"W-Well… we wanted to go to Lagaard, but we weren't sure if you were OK with leaving…" Mikan continued, before placing her fork down, half her breakfast still on her plate. "U-Um, I'm not really that hungry…"  
"So we're going on holiday?" Kazuki asked, hopeful expectations shining in his eyes.  
"W-Well, yes and no. We want to go to the Capitol to investigate what's going on with Senator Ouma… but at the same time, we could show you around. Find some place that's friendly for kids like you, right?" Makoto continued, giving a nervous smile.  
"OK." Naoko responded, folding her hands.  
"W-We'll pack your things and ours… a-and we'll walk to the nearby train station. I-It could take us five hours or even longer to get to Lagaard… u-um, we'll probably arrive around 1, i-if we get on a train at 9." Mikan pointed out.  
"It's 7:30am now, so that gives us about an hour to pack…" Makoto added, before turning back to his son and daughter. "Now, are you two sure you want to go?"  
Both Naoko and Kazuki nodded in agreement.

Back in their room, Makoto and Mikan shoved what clothes of their own they could into their bags. The two had several concerns on their minds; most of which were the same as one another. Kazuki and Naoko were one – or arguably two – concerns, however another had gone unspoken between the two, both worried it would open up horrible memories in the other. However, eventually, the Piper must be paid – and Mikan spoke up first.  
"U-Um… about Senator Ouma… have you noticed what I've noticed?"  
Makoto turned his head, frowning for a moment. "… What about him? Do you mean…"  
"His appearance? U-Um… yes. He… he looks like her." Mikan clamped her hands together over a plain white t-shirt; though the t-shirt belonged to Makoto, the two were so similar size-wise that it often didn't matter who wore whose clothes.  
"… You mean Chizuru, right?" Makoto replied, pausing concernedly. Mikan nodded in response. "… Yeah, I thought that was bizarre too. Maybe she had a brother she never mentioned…?"  
"I-I thought she was an only child, but then again, Kuzuryuu said he was an only child too…" Mikan wiped at her face, closing her bag and deciding it had enough in it to supply a trip to Lagaard. "So she could've been lying… th-though I hate to consider Chizuru lying to us."  
"… She wouldn't have, not unless it would keep us safer." Makoto frowned. "Maybe she just didn't know? Heck, we could be reading into this too much, and in truth, the Senator's completely unrelated."  
"Mhm… w-we should probably drop the issue for now, then…?" Mikan suggested, moving towards the door so that she could help her children pack for the trip.  
"Yeah… if we think about it too much, we're probably gonna get a headache." Makoto admitted, giving a slight huff of laughter. "I'll be out soon, OK?"  
"OK." Mikan gave a smile as she exited their room, heading down the hallway.

Makoto couldn't help but admit Mikan probably had a point, and despite agreeing to drop the issue, he found it quickly clawing its way back into his mind. Chizuru Yamagi – a former (by choice) noblewoman of Lagaard with a passion for adventure, excitement, and sex, often some strange combination of the three. And her genetic similarities with the new Senator; her shoulder-length, messy black hair, her big, confident blue eyes, her pale, snow-like skin, the fact both she and the Senator appeared to be quite short… if it was just a coincidence, it was an extremely circumstantial coincidence. Makoto shook his head, trying to disperse the thoughts for now, momentarily praying that something else would occupy his thoughts. As if the gods heard his plea, the radio clicked itself to on, filling the room – and his mind – with some music found in an archive from the 1980s. Music that was almost 100 years old filled the room, but the strangely-formulated talkbox guitar of that era provided a decent distraction as Makoto finished packing his things, his mind instead trying to figure out how the bloody hell the device even worked.

Makoto left his room shortly afterwards, encountering his wife and children standing excitedly outside his door. Mikan offered a shy smile, while Kazuki eagerly jumped up and down. A stuffed monkey's head stuck out of his bag – a favourite toy of his.  
"C'mon, we gotta go to the station!" Kazuki shouted.  
"H-Hey, calm down! It's only a 15-minute walk…" Makoto chuckled, scratching the back of his neck. "It's only 8:30 now, the train doesn't leave until 9."  
"A-Are you sure you have everything?" Mikan asked politely, her index finger on her temple. "We don't want to walk all the way there only to find out we're missing something…"  
"Monki's here, so I'm good to go! Naoko, do you have Koneko?" Kazuki shouted enthusiastically, to which Naoko gently lifted a stuffed animal, a large kitten.  
"Yes." She responded, keeping a tight hold on it.  
"M-Makoto, that's a question for you too…" Mikan smiled nervously.  
"Yeah, I got everything, don't worry." Makoto responded, giving her a smile. "I have about 2000GP on me… that should be enough for now."  
"Ehe, I have about 2500." Mikan reported. "We… we should be good on money then."  
Makoto nodded in agreement, hoisting his bag over his shoulders, before turning to Kazuki and Naoko. "Now, do either of you want to be carried some of the way to the station?"  
"No." They both responded in sync, shaking their heads. Makoto smiled at their decisiveness and their confidence, though he couldn't help but feel that this would be a small glimpse at what life would be like for the two in ten or twelve years.

"… and then I'm gonna climb to the top of the Lagaardian City Centre!" Kazuki eagerly shouted as the four walked towards the train station, an ear-to-ear grin of exhilaration and excitement present on his face. Mikan did her best to avoid looking concerned, despite the drastic actions her son just declared he'd be doing.  
"I-I know you're excited, Kazuki, but… climbing the city centre is something not even us adults are allowed to do. It's very high up…" Mikan nervously stated, clutching onto the braid resting over her shoulder.  
"Aww, this new Senator's no fun at all." Kazuki complained, pouting, to which Makoto gave an apprehensive laugh.  
"Ehe… I don't think not letting people climb the city centre was the Senator's decision." He admitted.  
"Is there anything for kids to do in Lagaard?" Naoko asked.  
"Well, uh, you know Maki Harukawa? She has a downtown district that focuses on children's entertainment… going there might be a good idea." Makoto responded, as they finally walked in the doors of Aeston Station.  
"That sounds fun!" Kazuki responded, looking up at the train timetables. "Uh… hm. The next train leaves in… seven minutes?"  
"I-It's arrived, then, but it hasn't left." Mikan replied. "A-Actually, I think that's it right there." She pointed ahead of her, and Makoto looked up at the timetable himself.  
"Yeah, that's it… we should probably get Kazuki and Naoko a pass before boarding." Makoto chuckled, rubbing behind his neck. Hearing his voice and his suggestion to his wife, an android wandered up to him, tapping him on the shoulder gently.

"Hi, I couldn't help but overhear your request for a boarding pass for… uh, is it the two children?" The android asked, running a hand through their hair – there was definitely an androgynous beauty to the android, and both Makoto and Mikan found themselves distracted – if only for a few seconds.  
"Y-Yeah, uh, 3 years, born June 6th, 2066." Makoto snapped out of his mini-trance first, smiling at the android, who then produced a pair of passes.  
"You can fill in the details on the train, don't worry." The android said, giving a smile. Mikan smiled back as well, before dropping 40GP into their hands.  
"U-Um… 15 on both, a-and you can keep the change for yourself, Dr…?" Mikan trailed off, as if asking for a name. The android giggled a little.  
"Aja. Uh… my creator never gave me a last name." They admitted.  
"I-I'm sorry to hear that… I hope things go well for you, and that things don't get too bad under Senator Ouma." Makoto admitted, not knowing exactly how to comfort Aja.  
"It's fine, I doubt they will. Good luck in your travels!" Aja waved, before turning around and returning to the station office.

"C'mon, c'mooooon, the train's leaving soon!" Kazuki enthusiastically stated, standing between the doors of the train.  
"Mom and Dad wouldn't leave us on the train alone, Kazuki…" Naoko added, though also standing in the doorway of the train, as Makoto and Mikan finally stepped through.  
"H-Hey, p-please don't stand in the doorway!" Mikan gently picked Kazuki up as she boarded, moving him out of the doorway, Naoko moving away on her own as the four settled into a group of seats.  
"Dibs on a window…" Naoko trailed off, climbing up over Mikan's lap, the latter feeling slightly overwhelmed with both twins in her care.  
"Ehe… Kazuki, did you want a window as well?" Makoto called out, prompting Mikan to release him, Kazuki sliding onto the seat next to Mikan; though not for long, as he clambered up onto Makoto's lap, knees digging into his father's thighs – though not painfully enough to cause Makoto to call out in discomfort. The small boy pressed his hands and face right up against the glass windows, eagerly awaiting the train's departure – which came sooner than later, as the train began gliding across the monorail system. Makoto stared out the window with him, though rather than being fascinated by the sights he saw, he simply sought out an absent-minded distraction, awaiting an inevitable encounter with the Senator.


	7. Chapter 6 - Escalating Circumstances

One thing was for certain: Senator Ouma's plans for cybernetic citizens had sparked a lot of controversy among Lagaard's population.

The City Centre was surrounded by protestors against his proposal to remove the rights of cybernetic citizens, though the protest had turned from peace to violence. As Celestia passed the protesters and quite frankly barbaric brawling going on in the crowd, she had heard several citizens shout hateful things about either side – negative comments spewing about both man and machine. She sighed, turning a deaf ear to the robot yelling at her side as she passed through the doors.

"Th-things are going to hell out there…" Touko commented, the two having already agreed to travel to the city centre together via a phone call Touko had made at 5am – though what kind of mindset she had to have to think that was remotely acceptable, Celes would be left guessing.  
"Our best course of action for the moment is to at least try to ignore it, and hope the police can deal with it." She replied, checking her tasks for the day. "… Hah. Already, one of the neighbouring country's showing concerns… one of Weihuang's diplomats apparently wants to talk to the Senator."  
"W-We were the leading country in creating androids… t-thanks to Fujisaki's advancements in smart AIs, p-particularly Nanami, we were far advanced compared to other countries. N-Now, he wants to shut that down, a-and make those smart AIs feel less than human…" Touko began. "I-I'm in the same government as he is, a-and I'm wondering what he's thinking… I can't blame other countries for wondering the same thing."  
"Even I don't understand. As you have said, we've been developing smarter AIs than any other country in the world, and suddenly he wants to insist that these AIs aren't capable of the same level of thinking and cognitive memory, as a human being." Celes sighed. "How could he think that would go remotely unnoticed?"  
"He didn't." A third voice joined the conversation, causing both Celes and Touko to double-take and search for its source.

"… Ugh. I'm right here." The voice groaned, a voice feminine, but deep in pitch. Touko eventually spotted the speaker, gently pulling on Celes' sleeve to get her attention, before pointing at its source – a young woman in her early 20s, standing at least 15cm taller than the two. Ash blonde hair covered her left eye, her right one a lime green. The clothes she was wearing bore a striking resemblance to Celes' – primarily wearing a black dress with white lace, a white apron covering the front, purple and glowing spiderwebs adorning the apron. A broom lay in her hands, and a vaguely annoyed expression was worn on her face.  
"R-Right… why are you interrupting our conversation, again?" Touko asked.  
"To try and make a correction. The Senator? He didn't think that his law would go unnoticed." The woman replied. "They wouldn't elect a complete idiot to the Okugawan council, let alone elect an idiot to be Senator. He's seen a line that needed to be drawn, and is trying to draw it in."  
"I don't believe I've seen you before, miss." Celes replied, changing the topic.  
"No, they removed the CyBER cleaners yesterday evening. I've heard they scrapped them… means my job just became full-time." The woman replied.  
"S-Scrapped them…?" Touko frowned, pushing her fingers together.  
"I mean that quite literally… a selection of government bodyguards escorted them from the building and destroyed them for their parts, likely for architecture." The woman responded, before deciding to hold a hand out. "Kirumi Toujo. You are?"  
"How could you possibly not know who we are?" Celes asked, frowning, though taking Kirumi's hand.  
"I do know who you are. Introductions, however, usually involve both parties introducing themselves…" Kirumi sighed.  
"T-Touko Fukawa… not that you'll remember that." Touko responded, clamping her hands together.  
"Celestia Ludenberg." Celes added, giving a polite smile – and Kirumi responded with a thin, quick one of her own, as the two released each other's hand.  
"Thank you. That wasn't so hard." She said, before sighing. "I need to return to work. I guess I'll see you later."  
"See you later then, Toujo." Celes replied, before taking her leave, Touko nodding her goodbye before heading in the same direction – towards the elevators.

"… M-My job isn't working on what you'll say to this diplomat." Touko said, as the elevator began moving up towards the 8th floor – far removed from the 13th floor, formerly the highest and where they used to work, but still a decent work office. The 13th floor was completely inaccessible anyway – the floor was left untouched as a reminder of Lagaard's tragedy and the security failings of Senator Togami, though left unable to be accessed by the elevators, the doors permanently locked.  
"I'm not speaking to the diplomat – remember, he's here to see Senator Ouma." Celes replied, a pair of guards moving down the hallway; security, however, seemed to be running shorter than most days.  
"… I-I'm going to hope th-that they're all just on the 30th floor for s-security reasons and that's it." Touko responded, hands clenched together.  
"As am I… though I doubt he's going to be stupid enough to try and replace most of the Council, staff, and government in one day." Celes said, as she slid her card across the scanner to her and Touko's office. The doors slid open, and the two women walked in.  
"D-Did what Toujo say before concern you at all? W-When she talked about the CyBERs being destroyed…?" Touko asked, as soon as the doors slid shut.  
"Hmmhmm, of course not, Touko." Celes smiled, before twisting a piece of her hair around her finger. "I don't have anything to be concerned about, after all. It was CyBERs they were after."  
"R-Right…" Touko said, sitting herself down and checking her own jobs for the day. "D-Damnit… controversy address speech, due in 3 days…"  
"A shame. Senator Ouma has a lot of anger and resentment among the public to answer for…" Celes responded, taking a quick glance out the window-wall at the crowds – rowdy, impatient, and there were bloodstains on the ground visible from 8 storeys high. "Jesus… that devolved quickly."  
"What, what…?" Touko asked, walking towards the window, only to be stopped in her tracks by Celes, gently holding onto her shoulders.  
"Ah-ah-ah… probably best you do not look." Celes replied. "It's gotten very violent. As in… well, _she_ could come out if you took a glance at it."

Touko shuddered, before moving back to her desk. "A-Alright… Wh-what do you have today…?"  
"Just to remain here if called upon for a leader's visit." Celes replied. "Hmm… I am somewhat curious about Senator Ouma himself. Do you think I would get in trouble if I was caught eavesdropping or bugging his conversation with the diplomat?"  
"Y-Yes!" Touko replied, frowning.  
"Very well… guess I just have to avoid getting caught." Celes snickered.  
"D-Don't try it, T-Taeko…" Touko responded, only to be met with one of the most forced, polite smiles Celes had ever shown her.  
"Pardonez-moi, Touko?" She said, through clenched teeth.  
"K-Knew that'd get your attention, Celestia…" Touko replied, Celes' forced smile turning to a pout. "J-Just don't do it… seriously, if Senator Ouma catches you… I think that being blind again would be the least of your worries."  
"Hmph. You're no fun, Touko. Besides, I don't plan on going blind a second time." Celes huffed, before pulling a small spider-like device out of her desk.  
"S-Seriously, don't… ugh, you know what, if you want to get thrown out of the government, go ahead." Touko slammed her head against the desk.  
"I'll only be in trouble if I get caught, Touko, and Senator Ouma's obsessed with disabling our CyBER sentries and replacing them with ones of flesh and bone. Right now, he has created a blind spot, and this thing is likely too small for him to care or notice." Celes smiled, before setting the instructions of the small spider droid, and watching it creep through the tiny gap in the door and run out into the hallway.

Switching a small device on, Celes observed the small spider crawling through the shadows of the city centre, avoiding the attention of the guards as it clambered its way to the 30th floor – taking the stairs of course, as in the elevator it would likely be discovered and/or crushed. Once it reached the 30th floor, Touko, who had just completed a rough draft for the introduction, found her curiosity growing, despite her previously telling Celes that this idea was sure to get her ruined. Groaning as her curiosity became too much to ignore, she stood up, leaning over Celes' shoulder and deciding to watch and listen to the footage.  
"Here, bring your chair over, if you like." Celes instructed, to which Touko obliged, dragging her chair over to take a better look, as the diplomat from Weihuang entered the office.

" _Greetings, Senator. I am Liang Xihu. You have been informed of my arrival, and of the agendas my country wishes to discuss. This journey was scheduled to occur should you become Senator – your policies have been all over the news for several months now." Liang bowed, as Kokichi instructed for him to take a seat.  
"Well met, Xihu. I am Kokichi Ouma, the leader of Okugawa. Personally, I dislike the title "Senator" – it doesn't sound like a leader's title." Kokichi responded. "Anyway."  
"… Your recently implemented law has made it so that cyborgs have fewer rights than humans, and that androids, robots, and CyBERs, even of your own country's creation, have even fewer rights than cyborgs. The advancements of your country's very own Chihiro Fujisaki made the smart AIs present in those units possible not only in Okugawa, but all over the world – why do you wish to deny certain rights to cybernetic citizens?"  
"I covered this already in a news interview." Kokichi responded, as soon as the translator in his ear finished repeating the man's question to him. "Cybernetic citizens, as you've just named them, are unpredictable. Glitchy. They can turn on you at any time, go rogue, have no heart. At the same time, they run through a series of already scripted programs. No matter how smart an AI might get, no matter what advancements Fujisaki or anybody else makes with them, it's never going to compare to a human's brain – it'll always be running programs rather than doing any actual thinking, not much different to a computer. The government employing its own inner workings? I don't think that's acceptable in the slightest. Androids, robots, and CyBERs are taking jobs that we could be employing real people to perform. I'd rather look after citizens who require food, oxygen, and water to survive than citizens who require constant battery replacements and recharges, and to be placed outside for six hours so they work at peak performance."  
"An interesting response, Senator- "  
"We've been over this. I hate the title 'Senator'. Ouma."  
"Er, Ouma… but you have called the improvements made with cybernetic citizens 'useless', previously. If the leading country in the world is useless with creating cybernetic citizens, how do you consider the rest of the world?"  
"I consider you that you would all be wise to follow in my footsteps. Save the energy used to build cybernetic citizens, use it on architecture, home improvements, residential developments…" Kokichi scratched at his chin, as the spider clambered onto the ceiling above the two.  
"… Right. And what do you plan to do about the various cybernetic citizens within your government, cyborg or fully robotic?"  
"Replace them, or at least the 'fully robotic' ones you've described. We've already removed the CyBERs that were in place here."  
"… Removed?"  
"I had a group of my guards gather them up yesterday, before dismantling them."  
"I… see." Liang cleared his throat. "Ouma, the people of Weihuang, as are the people of Toknan, are very angry with your decision to disregard cybernetic citizens as not deserving of the same rights as their fellow man. I speak on their behalf to warn you against further action against them, or we will be terminating Okugawa's involvement with the Unity of the Sun." Liang warned.  
"I don't have a reason to take __**further**_ _action against them, Xihu." Kokichi smiled. "Now, is that it for today's meeting- What the-?! How did a spider crawl in here?!"_

"Fuck-!" Celes exclaimed, shutting off the bugging software in the spider immediately. If the spider was squished after falling off the ceiling, the liquefying computer inside, resembling blood once turned to fluid, would hopefully be rendered non-suspicious, meaning that the spying mission had gone mostly flawlessly.  
"I-I warned you this was a bad idea…!" Touko growled.  
"Gh- just don't say a word of this." Celes pushed the small device back into her desk, sitting down and absentmindedly gazing out the window. Had Celes learned anything new, anything new about the Senator's new policies, maybe she would've been able to discern a true reason why Ouma resented cybernetic citizens. Expert liars made expert lie detectors, and she could tell that Ouma didn't care an ounce about the wellbeing of human citizens. She bit her lip, sighing deeply and lowering her head into her hands.

"W-we honestly can't take a termination of alliance at this point… ggh, i-if we do leave the Unity of the Sun, it c-could escalate to civil war…!" Touko clutched tightly onto her braids, pulling tightly on them to vent frustration and fear.  
"You worry too much, Touko. I doubt that Senator Ouma would allow a war to commence, regardless of his own policies or prejudice." Celes stated, twisting a piece of her hair.  
"P-Point taken…" Touko stated, before reminding herself of the speech she still had to write. She took one look at the introduction she'd drafted, before sinking her head onto the table, standing up. "Ugh… I'm going to go get a coffee. D-Did you want anything?"  
"I'll come with." Celes responded, knowing the only thing of vague interest in the office were the vague sights of the protest occurring downstairs – though they seemed to be quieting down, so either the police arrived while she and Touko were spying on the Senator, or the fight had reached a lethal point.  
"F-Fine then…" Touko said, both girls exiting the office and heading back downstairs.

Ten minutes later, both were seated in a government café, a drink in front of them both – coffee in Touko's case, milk tea in Celes'.  
"… Y-Your other job… how'd that go last night?" Touko asked, keeping her voice down.  
"An attempt to either take advantage of me or assassinate me, still not entirely sure which, and a stalemate in chess." Celes replied, taking a quick drink.  
"S-Stalemate…? Against whom?" Touko frowned.  
"Some boy named Rantaro Ama…" Celes began, trailing off and frowning as something caught her eye; or, more accurately, someone.  
"… H-Hey, I asked a question…" Touko growled, gritting her teeth. "J-Just what are you staring at?! T-There's a mirror over there, isn't there, and you can see my ugly fa-"  
"Touko, if I wanted to stare at your face, it's right in front of me." Celes retorted. "… Rantaro Amami. I trailed off because, well…" She pointed towards the counter. Speaking of the devil, he stood, smiling warmly to the barista as they handed him a drink. "That's Amami over there."  
"Y-You're serious-?!" Touko hissed, before taking a sip of her coffee.  
"I don't have a reason to lie about this." Celes responded, frowning as Rantaro left, heading towards the elevators. A simple and luxurious life, she assumed, would soon have to be put away once more.


	8. Chapter 7 - Arriving in Lagaard

"Wake up."

Fuyuhiko blinked blearily as he sat up slowly, stretching out his stiffened muscles, his eye settling on the blurry figure of a silvery-white man; though as consciousness clawed its way back to his being, he quickly recognised the man as Kiibo.  
"Y-Yeah, what do you want?" Fuyuhiko slurred, continuing to blink rapidly, trying to get his eye to 'start up'.  
"We only have an hour before we arrive in Lagaard." Kiibo replied, before gently moving to shake Chihiro awake.  
"Oi, if we gotta wake him up, I'm wakin' him up." Fuyuhiko said, reaching his arm out over Chihiro's slumbering form in protest.  
"Alright, then. I should probably wake Miu, then." Kiibo said, before returning to a regular standing position, crossing over the train and back to his seat.

"Yo. Chihiro." Fuyuhiko said, gently shaking Chihiro. Chihiro stirred from sleep, blearily looking up towards his friend, who gave him a slight smile. "It's mornin', we're gonna be in Lagaard soon."  
"Mmh…" Chihiro replied, stretching himself out against his pillow, sleepily opening his eyes. "Morning, Fuyuhiko…"  
"Mornin'." Fuyuhiko chuckled, gently ruffling Chihiro's hair with his right hand, causing Chihiro to laugh as well.  
"How soon until we arrive?" He asked, as he pushed himself to a sitting position.  
"About an hour, Kiibo said." Fuyuhiko responded, taking a quick glance over at said robot – who appeared to have less than no issues getting Miu to wake up, completely refreshed, as she was already standing up and stretching against the bag rack above her.  
"Alright… um, I don't really have anything we could be doing." Chihiro admitted, lowering his head. "S-Sorry…"  
"Hey, man, it's fine." Fuyuhiko smirked, gently patting Chihiro on the shoulder.  
"S-Still, I'm sorry this is going on and we had to all take a train out to Lagaard…" Chihiro responded, placing his hand over Fuyuhiko's for a moment.  
"Hey, little guy, not your fault! Hell, at least this gives me and Kiibo something to do, aside from manage a bar and inventing stuff in the basement!" Miu butted in, practically hanging off the bag rack.  
"H-Hey, don't do that, you could break it!" Kiibo exclaimed, gently but firmly trying to pry her away from the rack.  
"Oh come on, I'm not that heavy!" Miu laughed, though still found herself pried off as Kiibo gently but firmly unhooked her hands from the racks, unceremoniously knocking her to the floor. "Ow… Geez, let me live, Kiibo."

" **NOW APPROACHING MOROXA STATION.** " A synthesised, female voice stated over the intercom, Miu blowing a piece of hair out of her face.  
"An hour to Lagaard, alright." She huffed, brushing stray strands of hair back as passengers boarded and disembarked. "An hour to Lagaard and there's nothing to do…"  
"T-There are things to do… it just might take some thinking." Chihiro replied, Miu sinking back into her chair and losing herself in thought.  
"Can't really discuss politics. That always ends badly, and I'm pretty damn sure we've all got the same view of that fucker, Senator Ouma." Fuyuhiko remarked.  
"More or less…" Kiibo replied.  
"Gggh, if only there was something to do together." Miu groaned, pushing herself back in her seat and flipping open a compartment on a black wristband around her right wrist. "Alter Ego, play some music that's active."  
"Alright, how's this?" The device responded, before the faint sound of rock music filled her ears through a set of headphones that Miu shoved on her head, her pretending to hit drums to the apparent "beat". Her contentment seemed to stem from the fact she didn't immediately start going through the songlist manually.  
"Huh… Alter Ego?" Fuyuhiko frowned.  
"Ehe… something the government wanted me to work on a couple of years back, something to help Lagaard and Okugawa overall progress more smoothly, by updating their city systems to operate on an AI. It was only released recently… you probably haven't heard of it, since I referred to it as Project CAID whenever I talked about it." Chihiro replied, scratching the back of his head.  
"CAID… wasn't that Companionship And Interactivity Device?" Fuyuhiko asked.  
"Y-Yeah, that's it! They wanted a friendlier name for it once it was released, and I thought Alter Ego sounded pretty friendly. The government thought so too…" Chihiro gave a smile.  
"Huh. Neat." Fuyuhiko leaned back in his chair. "You wouldn't happen to have a copy of it?"  
"I wrote the programming for it, o-of course I have a copy. Several, actually." Chihiro went through his bag, pulling out a small wrist communication device. "Ehe… I wanted to give it to you when your birthday rolled around, but I figured you'd need it more now than in six months' time."

Fuyuhiko gingerly took the device from Chihiro, placing it around his right wrist and opening the access panel for the device.  
"Good morning, Fuyuhiko Kuzuryuu!" The device beamed, and Chihiro quickly handed Fuyuhiko a pair of headphones to make sure the noise didn't arouse suspicion or annoyed attention. Quickly putting them on and hooking them up to the device, Fuyuhiko lowered his voice to speak to the device.  
"Uh… good morning." He scratched the back of his head, somewhat perplexed on what to do with the device.  
"Since this is your first time launching Alter Ego, I will need to run by a few preference tests to optimise the program to your wants and needs." The program responded, Fuyuhiko tucking his legs onto the chair and sitting back.  
"Aight, what kind of tests?" He asked, tilting his head.  
"Mostly questions. Normally I wouldn't allow access to everything, as a lot of the city's programming relies on my operation and I need to keep people out, but my creator seems to trust you with his life. So, all access is granted." The device stated. "Would you say you take a direct approach to situations, or a subtle one?"  
"Direct." Fuyuhiko replied, as a bar at the bottom of the device's screen filled from left to right with solid colour.  
"Understood. Would you prefer using me for work purposes or entertainment purposes?" Alter Ego continued.  
"Uh… yes?" Fuyuhiko tilted his head, frowning. The device, however, recognised his response as a legitimate one, the same bar filling from left to right.  
"Understood. On a scale of 1 to 10, what is the intensity of your current lifestyle?"  
"… Can this be changed later?"  
"Of course, Fuyuhiko." The device responded, in a happy tone.  
"I'd… go around a 4 right now, just to be safe."  
"Four, about the same as a somewhat dangerous, but part-time job. Understood." The device stated. "Do you have colour preferences for the interface?"  
"Uh… didn't think that was gonna be a question, but I'm gonna go with 'gold' if you've got it." Fuyuhiko scratched the back of his neck, as the device's interface turned black, white, and gold.  
"Is this OK?" The device asked as soon as it finished changing.  
"Yeah, that's great. Thanks." Fuyuhiko replied.  
"That's all the optimization questions I have for now." The device stated. "Would you like to set up a password on the device?"  
"Eh… later. Once I know what kinda work I'm gettin' into with this new senator." Fuyuhiko said, placing a hand on his hip.  
"Understood. Do you want me to do anything else?"  
"Eh… play some calming music." Fuyuhiko laid back as smooth jazz filled his ears, his gaze being directed out the window at the passing buildings, growing closer together as the train approached Lagaard.

" **NOW ARRIVING AT LAGAARD CENTRAL. ALL PASSENGERS, PLEASE EXIT THE TRAIN UPON ARRIVAL AT LAGAARD CENTRAL.** " The synthesised intercom informed, Miu pulling her headphones off in an instant.  
"Ah, finally! We can fucking walk somewhere!" She remarked, pushing herself to her feet and throwing her bag over her shoulder before walking out of the train, with Kiibo picking up his own bag and following.  
"… Where are you two headed?" He asked, tilting his head slightly as he turned back to face Fuyuhiko.  
"Eh… probably the Copper Arm. We have a friend there. Well, not quite a friend, but he let us hang there for a while durin' the Tragedy of Lagaard." Fuyuhiko replied as he and Chihiro disembarked, deciding for the meantime to leave out their involvement with the event.  
"Well, uh… Miu and I- wait, where did you say we were going again?" Kiibo asked, turning to face her.  
"I didn't say where we were going, I figured we'd just wing it." Miu replied, hands on her hips.  
"Is that a good idea?" Kiibo asked, pushing his fingers together.  
"It'll be fine! Besides, now I've got some idea of where to go." She waved a hand dismissively. "Besides, it'll be easier to just stick as a group if we're going to be doing something about this fuckface."  
"… Uh, do you want to stick together, Fuyuhiko?" Chihiro asked, nervously rubbing the back of his neck.  
Fuyuhiko remained silent for a few moments, considering the pros and cons of both decisions. Though Miu definitely wasn't his favourite person, she seemed to have learned her boundaries, and Kiibo seemed polite. Sighing, Fuyuhiko folded his arms.  
"Yeah, we should probably stick together, head to the Copper Arm." He concluded, with a nod and a smirk.  
"Though first, I wouldn't exactly mind getting breakfast from a café or something." Chihiro added.  
"I have to say, I haven't had anything in ages! To be fair, they don't exactly allow food on trains that aren't heading out of the country, but still. Kind of starving." Miu replied, grinning proudly, before raising her hand. "All in favour?"

Half an hour later, the four were seated at a café halfway between the train station and the Copper Arm, watching as the sights of the massive, bustling city passed by.  
"Man, you'd hardly know that this place was completely deserted or a war zone four years ago!" Miu declared, before taking a sip of coffee from a black porcelain mug. "It feels kinda dull and a bit hard on the eyes, but it's alive!"  
"I guess…" Fuyuhiko replied, before taking a decent gulp of iced tea.  
"Uh, Miu… how can a city be alive? Aside from the people, most of it is mechanical…" Kiibo asked, poking at a straw on his glass, housing a turquoise liquid.  
"Oh? Easy! The way it moves, the way it's unpredictable, how everything you see here was built by human hands… life runs all through it!" Miu replied, proudly.  
"… You think they'll be much help?" Chihiro asked, as Miu continued her explanation to Kiibo's question. Fuyuhiko leaned his head into his hand, staring out of the window.  
"I wanna say yes, but… honestly, I don't know. They could go either fuckin' way at this point." He responded, before taking a drink in case one of them overheard him and decided to inquire about it, though it seemed that both Kiibo and Miu were wrapped up in their own business.  
"Yeah… I can see where you're coming from." Chihiro admitted, picking at a slice of raisin toast. "Though… I-I think any help we can get is good."  
"Yeah. Heh, you're pretty optimistic about others, as usual. Probably need that in this situation." Fuyuhiko smirked, one that just about curled up into a genuine smile.  
"Ehehe… thanks. I try to be." Chihiro replied.

"Alright, so, we go to the Copper Arm and rent out rooms. Then what do we do?" Miu asked, frowning.  
"You think I got a clue? I ain't exactly the plannin' type. So far, it's 'Go see the Senator, give him a piece of my mind'." Fuyuhiko responded, giving a sigh.  
"We'd probably have to schedule a meeting, and with the current state of affairs, I don't think he'll be seeing us for a while…" Chihiro pointed out. "I think we should probably gather information about the condition of things here. After that, we can probably work out what to do."  
"Eeh… makes sense, I guess." Miu scratched at the back of her neck. "I'm guessing by 'investigation' you mean either wander around the place and ask questions, or snoop around on private conversations."  
"W-Well, I meant the former one more than anything, b-but the condition of non-living areas might also help out…" Chihiro pushed his fingers together, before taking a bite out of his toast.  
"So, head to different areas of the city, get as much information as we can, and then report back at the tavern?" Kiibo asked, trying to make sure that he had everything he needed down.  
"Y-Yeah, that's kind of what I had in mind…" Chihiro replied.  
"Sounds good to me, though we should probably go rent rooms before we go anywhere else." Fuyuhiko concluded. "We all good to go?"  
Fuyuhiko was met with a group of nods.

As the unlikely team of four continued walking towards the Copper Arm, they heard sounds of conflict from outside the city centre. A quick glance that Fuyuhiko gave to the entrance showed that the sounds were coming from a protest gone horribly violent. Though there were no weapons present, blood was visible in several spots along the silver metal ground, and at least a dozen citizens lay unconscious – some robotic, others flesh and bone.  
"W-What happened here…?!" Kiibo asked, though kept his voice down.  
"Rioting… fuck, we ain't even at the tavern yet and there's already evidence that shit's gone to hell." Fuyuhiko replied, sighing. "Let's just move past it. There's no way the police ain't been notified, and… well, I ain't really willin' to go anywhere with law enforcement."  
"… Isn't Peko an officer?" Chihiro asked, to which Fuyuhiko gave a friendly nudge.  
"She's my girlfriend, she's an exception." He smirked, though he was glad that a distraction had come quick to the riots, and that the four of them had gone largely unnoticed.

Soon enough, the Copper Arm stood in front of them. Despite its refurbished appearance, to Fuyuhiko and Chihiro, the tavern bore a sense of familiarity. Pushing open the doors, the four were greeted with the aftermath of a fairly busy night. Kiibo could see shards of glass embedded in the carpet, but as they were too small to legitimately hurt someone, he decided to ignore them. The tavern bore the slight, but strange, scent of burning alcohol. In spite of this, however, it still seemed to be the best place for the four to stay.  
"Hey. Been a while, hasn't it?" The bartender stated, scratching the back of his neck.  
"Yeah… nice to see you too, Oowada." Chihiro greeted, before pushing himself up onto one of the bar stools. "U-Um… four rooms, please?"  
"Alright. Should be about 5GP per room, per day. How long you staying?" Mondo asked, tilting his head.  
"Yeah… uh, we don't know yet. We'll pay you on a day-by-day basis, first thing in the morning, aight?" Fuyuhiko said, as Chihiro pulled out the money to pay for the two, while Miu and Kiibo pooled the money for themselves.  
"Hell, as long as you don't forget, that's fine by me." Mondo replied, giving a large grin, as a full payment of 20GP for the four was placed on the counter. "Thanks, and I hope you enjoy your stay better than last time."  
"Heh, not like that's gonna be hard to top." Fuyuhiko retorted, before turning back to his companions.

"Alright, so now we explore the city, right? Find out what we can?" Kiibo asked, to which he was met with a nod from Fuyuhiko.  
"I know this is the kind of thinking that gets people murdered in horror movies, but we should probably split up. We can cover way more ground that way." Miu declared.  
"We might not be in a horror movie, but what makes you think splitting up would be a good idea?" Fuyuhiko asked.  
"I'm not saying we all split off into singles. I'm saying we go in groups of two and investigate different areas of Lagaard, see what shows up!" Miu replied, hands on her hips.  
"A-Alright… uh, how about you and I go together, a-and Fuyuhiko and Kiibo also go together?" Chihiro suggested.  
"That… seems like a weird suggestion." Fuyuhiko remarked, frowning, though he had enough faith in Chihiro to assume he had a good reason behind it.  
"Y-Yeah… though it's the best way to make sure we're all sticking to the plan." Chihiro responded. "A-Are you alright with that, Fuyuhiko?"  
"… Yeah, I see where you're comin' from now." Fuyuhiko replied. "… I guess Kiibo and I will head to the worker's district, and you two can check out the residential one." He leaned over the table, supporting his head on his hand. "Wouldn't mind just settling into our rooms for today, though you can check out whatever you want."

Today would likely be the easiest day for weeks.


	9. Chapter 8 - Returning To Formula

" **THE MONORAIL HAS ARRIVED AT LAGAARD. ALL CUSTOMERS, PLEASE EXIT THE TRAIN HERE. THANK YOU FOR TRAVELLING ON THE OKUGAWAN MONORAIL.** "

Makoto had to jump up and catch Kazuki as the small child leapt from his lap as soon as the announcement was made, the excitable and previously very restrained young boy making a beeline for the train's door.  
"H-Hey, easy…! We don't want you to get lost…!" Makoto stammered, giving a nervous smile, gently pulling Kazuki back as Naoko began waking up.  
"Wakey wakey…" Mikan chided, gently placing Naoko on her hip, grabbing her bags with her other hand. Naoko quickly clutched onto Mikan, and the family of four left the monorail train, returning to the platform.

Though both Makoto and Mikan had visited Lagaard before, knowing the layout well enough to get around, the newer additions to the city mixed feelings of nostalgia with feelings of discovery. In spite of the events the two associated with the city, a feeling of euphoria erupted between the two. Makoto took a silent, but deep breath in, amazed with how much Lagaard's condition had improved. This… this would have been what Chizuru wanted, surely.

"There's a hotel not too far from here, and it's also pretty close to Harukawa's establishment…" Makoto stated, rubbing the back of his neck, as his mind returned to the reality of the situation. "Let's check into the hotel first, then go see the daycare, alright?"  
"OK!" Kazuki exclaimed, giddily jumping up and down. "Did you hear that? A hotel, Naoko! I can't wait to see what it's like!"  
"Yeah… me too." Naoko replied, smiling slightly.

After a short walk, the four found themselves entering the lobby, Makoto walked towards the front desk, clearing his throat as he walked over and calming nerves running amuck. A woman in her early 30s looked up, peering at the 22 year old holding the hand of his four year old daughter with a slight frown of disapproval, present clearly even behind a pair of glasses. She, however, wiped her disapproval off of her face, replacing it with a smile.  
"Welcome to Kyotoko Hotel. We offer an array of services, whether you are a bachelor or, in your case, a family. How can I assist today?"  
"Ehe… we'd like to get a 4 person room for two adults and two children." Makoto replied.  
"Alright, let me just check you in… can I get your names, please?" The clerk replied, turning to a touchpad keyboard.  
"Naegi. Makoto, Mikan, Kazuki, and Naoko." Makoto replied, pointing as he said their names.

Further questions ensued, and after ten minutes of gathering information and paying the price for the room for the day due to an indefinite stay, Makoto was finally handed a card key for a room, his family ushered up an elevator towards the 11th floor. Heading towards their room, Kazuki eagerly jumping outside the door, Makoto slid the card into the keycard slot, the door unlocking and pushing itself open.

The four entered the room, placing their bags down on the floor next to the door. Kazuki and Naoko charged in, eagerly and immediately claiming two of the single beds – in Kazuki's case, with a lot of excited shouting. Laughing slightly, Mikan lay down on the double in the centre of the room, while Makoto opened the door to the balcony – and the skyline of Lagaard, opening out before him. Blue, cyan, and silver met his eyes, the sun gleaming its warm rays onto several of the buildings. It was as beautiful now as it had been before the tragedy, five years prior.  
"Whoa…" Naoko exclaimed, trying to get a better look at the city, brushing soft, stray strands of light brown hair out of her face. Makoto gently lifted her up, placing her on his hip, pushing his daughter's hair back to allow her a better look at the city. A city in a country that he had tasked himself to protect – and his daughter's amazement inspired his own hope, a hope that he would be able to protect this city and country to keep them safe.

"Daaaad, mom wants to know when you want to take us to the daycare!" Kazuki groaned, lying back on his bed, head hanging over the edge.  
"Ehe… I could take you now, if you'd prefer that…" Makoto apologetically said, lowering his head and smiling gingerly.  
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah!" Kazuki perked his head up, crawling off his bed and running towards the door. Mikan gave a nervous laugh as she pushed herself back to her feet, a slight and quick headache rising to her skull as she grabbed onto the bedpost, steadying herself.  
"Ehe… u-um, Naoko…?" Mikan asked, gesturing to the door.  
"I don't see why not…" Naoko replied, gently pushing away and indicating she wanted to be let down. Makoto gently lowered himself to the ground, letting go of her.  
"Aha… so, shall we go?" Makoto asked, following his family to the door.

The four were soon walking along the silvery metal footpath, avoiding crashing into other pedestrians as they headed to the downtown district towards Majin Daycare. After arriving safely in Lagaard, Makoto couldn't help but feel in high spirits; after all, the last time he had been here, everything had been ruined, several of his friends and one of his lovers laid to rest in the city. At the very least, their rest was now permanent, and Makoto could focus on the present day. As his wife and twin children eagerly headed towards the daycare centre, he couldn't help but smile.

Makoto's smile faded as the four turned a corner, the gate to Majin Daycare blocked by a makeshift police line – beige duct tape with "PLEASE DO NOT CROSS" written over it with a black niko marker.  
"Whoa, cool!" Kazuki exclaimed, trying to run towards the makeshift police line. Makoto, on the other hand, gently held him back, though the distress on his face was clear.  
"Um, Kazuki… can you go back with mommy and Naoko to Kyotoko Hotel?" He asked, giving a nervous smile.  
"Aww… I never get to do anything fun." Kazuki pouted, but conceded, holding onto Mikan's hand.  
"U-Um… please be careful, Makoto…" Mikan said, her breathing somewhat shallow and nervous, before she started to walk back the way she and her family had arrived.

Taking a deep breath, Makoto crawled under the duct tape and walked towards the front door. If this was honestly how a day care was being run and how they taught, he definitely didn't want his kids going here while he was on business trying to seek an audience with the Senator. Sighing, Makoto knocked on the front door, and was answered by a blonde girl with fair skin and purple eyes, dressed in a white blouse, a purple vest with a glowing lavender pocket, purple slacks, and brown shoes, her face an expression of both worry and hopefulness.  
"A-are you the detective the police said was coming?" She asked, looking left and right.  
"D-Detective? Either way, sorry, but I'm not…" Makoto replied, his eyes staring towards the ground. Quickly, he snapped his view back to the girl. "What happened here, anyway?"  
"Well, one of the people working here… she was just _murdered._ There's no doubt about it. It was murder. Shirogane-san… she's dead." The blonde girl replied, her tone turning forceful as she came out with the name of the victim.  
"C-Calm down, miss…?" Makoto gestured, indicating for the woman to introduce herself.  
"A-Ah, my name's Kaede Akamatsu. If you're not the detective, who are you?" Kaede replied, frowning slightly.  
"Ah, sorry I'm not the detective. My name is Makoto Naegi." Makoto replied, rubbing the back of his neck, and avoiding a smile – though the mention of murder was enough to sober anyone up to the point where a smile was impossible.

"Well, Naegi, it's nice to meet you, though I wish it were under different circumstances." Kaede brushed a piece of her hair out of her face. "Well, while you're here, you might as well come inside. I'd offer you a coffee or a tea or something, but…"  
"Shirogane's body is in the kitchen." A second voice replied, as Kaede led Makoto inside. Makoto gave a horrified look, his brows contorted into a frown as his view led him to a girl with long, brown hair tied up in twintails, a pair of crimson eyes staring right at him.  
"Maki, you didn't have to tell him so abruptly…" Kaede pushed her fingers together, sighing.  
"He has a right to know." Maki replied, before shutting her mouth abruptly.  
"… Maki…?" Makoto gestured, as if indicating to finish her name.  
"… Maki Harukawa." Maki said, simply, before going silent once more.  
"Er… was it something I said?" Makoto asked, scratching the back of his neck.  
"No, she's usually like this… besides, we just found one of the other two caretakers dead in the kitchen. I think a lot of people would be relatively quiet, not just Maki…" Kaede replied, arms folded. As Makoto opened his mouth to reply, mostly to verbally agree with Kaede, a buzzing sound was heard from the door – a doorbell going off. Kaede took a few steps to go answer it, but stopped as Maki decided to open the door instead.

As Maki opened the door, she revealed a young man on the other side, dressed in a black dress shirt and slacks with a loose pale-blue tie, and wearing a black cap, the brim drooping over his left eye. The man gave a timid look, despite being taller than all three other people in the room, before coughing and clearing his throat, taking a small wallet out of his pocket.  
"… Hi. I'm Shuichi Saihara, I'm here on behalf of the Lagaardian Police Department. You said there had been a murder?" Shuichi asked, showing his badge with one hand, playing with a notepad in the other.  
"Inside." Maki replied abruptly, before standing out of the doorway, allowing Shuichi access to the daycare.  
"Thank you." Shuichi said, nodding his head in appreciation. "Though I will need to set up a legitimate tape barrier over the door, so that nobody can leave or come in through it."  
"Uh- wait, how long will the investigation take?" Kaede asked, tilting her head.  
"I can't imagine it'll take longer than four hours to investigate the crime scene initially, but if it does, I did bring a few water bottles and non-perishables. They told me the murder had taken place in the kitchen, so I brought them so you wouldn't disturb the crime scene further if you got hungry or thirsty." Shuichi replied, placing his bag on a nearby table. "Can any of you three tell me what you believe happened?"  
"W-Well, I just got here… I know about as much as you, if not even less…" Makoto replied.  
"Alright. Can I get your name?" Shuichi asked, taking out his notepad.  
"Makoto Naegi." Makoto replied, rubbing the back of his neck.  
"You said you just got here, Naegi?" Shuichi asked, Makoto nodding in response. Shuichi turned to his notepad, quickly writing down Makoto's name and testimony.

"… Your name, miss?" Shuichi asked, gesturing to Kaede.  
"Kaede Akamatsu… As for what happened, Maki and I were supervising the children on their break, while Tsumugi Shirogane was on a coffee break. After the kids were supposed to come back inside to nap, we'd both noticed that Shirogane-san still hadn't come back. I… I went to go get her, going into the kitchen, a-and… that's where and when I saw her body. I… I did disturb the crime scene, but only because I didn't want to believe it, I… I tried giving her CPR. When that didn't work, I panicked, ran out, told Maki to send everyone home for the day, and called the police." As Kaede told her story, Shuichi quickly jotted down notes on her testimony.  
"Does anybody else work here?" Shuichi asked, tilting his head.  
"There's me, Maki Harukawa," Kaede gestured quickly to Maki, "Ryoma Hoshi, and… well, the late Tsumugi Shirogane. Ryoma called in sick today…"  
"Could you give me his number or something?" Shuichi requested.  
"He wouldn't have done it, but still… 8366 477827." Kaede said, scratching the back of her head.  
"Thank you. And… Harukawa, was it?" Shuichi turned his attention to Maki.

Makoto, on the other hand, was beginning to feel sick. Though he didn't know Shirogane, he just felt… off. The murder, the death he'd worked so hard to keep at bay save for natural causes… he felt like he was on the verge of a similar event to that of five years ago. Though not on that scale or insanity, he still felt rocks in the pits of his stomach, paranoid about how these events could go…

"… You're not very cooperative, Harukawa, which would've been an odd trait for a Senator." Shuichi said, Makoto snapping back to reality.  
"Saihara, you got what happened from Kaede, anything I say will be repeating her." Harukawa insisted. "I say what needs to be said and do what needs to be done, nothing more."  
"Fine… I'll go investigate the crime scene. Akamatsu, could you and Harukawa guard the door while I put the tape up?" Shuichi asked, readjusting his cap. Kaede nodded, both her and Maki moving to guard the door.  
"H-Hey, uh, what should I be doing?" Makoto asked, and to his surprise, Shuichi gestured for him to follow him in.  
"I… I can sense the energy of a really good detective inside you. If you can, I want you to help me investigate this."

Makoto regretted agreeing to Shuichi's demands the second he stepped into the kitchen. The body of Tsumugi Shirogane lay in front of him, her glasses cracked, her hair and face stained with fuchsia blood, a knife twisted right into her gut. Makoto had seen gruesome deaths in combat, had even caused some gruesome deaths in combat. But this… this was nothing short of murder. Someone had come in and attacked a defenceless young woman, and murdered her.  
"… Are you alright? You just seemed like the kind of guy who'd already been through this." Shuichi asked, scratching his head.  
"… Y-Yeah, I'm fine. Just a little surprised." Makoto admitted, rubbing the back of his neck.  
"Do you know how to investigate a body or the environment?" Shuichi asked, and as expected, Makoto shook his head.  
"If something seems out of place for the environment, don't touch it. Yell for me and show me." Shuichi requested, pointing around the room. "I… I'll investigate the body. See what I can find."

Makoto started searching around the room, though unsure what he was looking for. He felt a cool, afternoon, February breeze rush in from the windowsill, and moved to close the window – before noticing two things. One, the window was completely trashed, Makoto's feet just centimetres from stepping on the glass on the floor. Two, a scrap of black lace was present on the windowsill.  
"U-Um… Saihara?" Makoto called out, Shuichi quickly jotting something down in a notepad before turning his attention to Makoto.  
"Yes, Nae…" Shuichi began, before noticing what Makoto had noticed. Quickly turning a few pages in his notepad, Shuichi wrote down dot-points about the window: the broken window, and the lace on the window. Though as Shuichi moved closer, the wind picked up, blowing the lace off of the shard and onto his clothes. Quickly grabbing the scrap of lace, Shuichi frowned as he looked closer, before sealing the lace in a ziplock evidence bag.

Shuichi then turned his attention back to Tsumugi's body, tracing along the imprint on her forehead with his finger, hovering above the wound and her broken glasses.  
"… I don't think this was the wound that finished her off, but it was inflicted before she died. Not only that, but this would've been either a slow, painful death, or a career-ending brain injury, depending on when she was discovered and how fast the ambulance would've arrived." Shuichi said. "… Her body's still fairly warm, but it has lost some heat, especially on top. She probably died about an hour ago… that puts the time of death at about…" Shuichi spared a glance at a silver watch around his wrist. "… 1:00pm. I'm not sure what caused the wound to her head, but my guess would be a metal pipe of some kind."  
Makoto, on the other hand, turned his attention back to the surroundings. Something then caught his eye – underneath the fridge, marked by a few blood splatters, was exactly what Shuichi had described: a metal pipe.  
"I found something, Saihara…" Makoto admitted, pointing under the fridge and to the metal pipe.  
"That would explain it… the killer must've tossed it under carelessly in an attempt to hide it." Shuichi theorised. "… I think this is what happened: Shirogane was finishing up a cup of coffee, when an assailant broke in through the window. The assailant likely bashed her over the head…" Shuichi trailed off as he looked at the body again, finding a note between Tsumugi's fingers – though it looked as though it had been pushed in there pre-emptively. Pulling the note out, Saihara's expression grew worried as he read the note.

 _TSUMUGI SHIROGANE IS YOUR WARNING, HARUKAWA._

 _IF THIS GOES REPORTED TO THE POLICE, YOU WILL BE NEXT._

 _-?_


	10. Chapter 9 - An Old Rival

Focus was not something Celes had in abundance today, at least not on her job.

Though she'd only caught a short glance at him once during her entire day, the fact she'd encountered Rantaro at the bar less than 24 hours before encountering him once more at the government offices she worked at… she wasn't, and didn't have to be, a master detective to notice that couldn't be a mere coincidence. The encounter had plagued her mind for the rest of the day, constantly snatching her attention away from even what little work she had to do – or even assisting with Touko's. If Rantaro was reporting word of what she was doing outside of her job to someone in the government… well, she'd cross that bridge once she arrived at it. If necessary, she'd remove Rantaro from the picture entirely and permanently, not quite legally – or, that's what she told herself, as she made her way through the sunset cityscape of Lagaard, heading towards the Copper Arm. The appearance of some greenish-blonde haired dolt wouldn't be enough to keep her away from her leisure activities. Quietly, she pushed the door open, the tavern's night evidentially already well underway.

As Celes made her way throughout the establishment, however, she noticed far more robotic and android patrons than yesterday – the result of Senator Ouma's laws, no doubt. Her guess? That the robots were being kicked out of many recreational establishments in Lagaard, and this was one of the few venues, Mondo one of the few hosts, that still accepted their patronage. Despite the rise in robotic patrons, finding Nagito and Chiaki next to the door was a task as easy as clockwork.  
"Good evening." She greeted, before her expression turned more business-like. "… Before I start playing games with anybody, could I take you two aside and talk privately? There's something I wish to discuss."  
"Fair enough. Upstairs lounge?" Chiaki replied, pointing behind her.  
"That'll do nicely." Celes replied, a thin smile present on her face.

Settling into the lounge, Chiaki made sure the door was locked and the room was unbugged (rare occurance, but still possible), before she took a seat next to Nagito, resting her head on his shoulder.  
"So, Lady Celes, what did you want to talk about?" Nagito asked, elbows resting on his knees, hands clasped.  
"Rantaro Amami, the patron I encountered last night." Celes began. "What did you find out about him?"  
"Right… well, he was talking about his match against you with his boyfriend." Nagito began. "… He said he was around 23 years old, and that he liked dogs and the colour turquoise."  
"You know that information is useless to me, Nagito." Celes sighed. "I found him today at the City Centre, while having a short break with Touko."  
"He did say he had a job with the government, as the Senator's Advisor." Nagito added, and Celes started to appear more content with the way the conversation was progressing.  
"Now we're getting somewhere… so, he is a Senator's advisor as I used to be. That would explain his appearance at the City Centre." She said, leaning back slightly. "Still… he knew of my gambling exploits here, yet if I was not fired on the spot, he must've elected to keep them secret."  
"That, or it's not considered serious enough to fire someone over…" Chiaki pointed out.  
"Indeed. Though I do have to wonder who's correct here." Celes responded, folding her hands.  
"There was that government worker about a year ago who had ties to a BDSM club here… as far as I know, he only got public backlash for a few days, and then everything was forgotten about. He still works there today, doesn't he?" Chiaki asked, scratching the back of her neck.  
"Korekiyo Shinguuji, Minister of Foreign Affairs. Yes, he didn't suffer long before public eye turned to celebrity affairs." Celes recalled, before giving a smile. "You have a point there, Nanami."  
"Still, it does seem kind of odd that he'd come here of all places, and then return to the City Centre and not tell anybody." Nagito commented. "Something would've been said by now if he had told someone."  
"I suppose that we should keep our guard up for the time being, but let this go for now." Celes concluded, before standing back up. "So, who has wanted to play against me tonight?"

"Blonde girl, fairly tall, dresses primarily in pink with a lot of black leather straps." Nagito described, as the three left the room and started heading back down the stairs. "She apparently is a traveller from Kaishi. She heard word from Mondo earlier you were undefeated, and took it as a challenge."  
"Traveller from Kaishi, huh. Haven't heard from that poor little fishing town in some time." Celes remarked with a slight giggle. "Not for four years. I almost forgot it existed."  
"You don't have to downplay where we fought against Kamukura, that was a pretty rough fight." Chiaki replied, keeping her voice lower as the three left the stairs and walked back into the main tavern.  
"True, but that's the only thing I'll remember it for." Celes replied. 

"Hey, you! Yeah, the raven-haired walking doll!" A voice shouted over the hustle of the tavern.  
"… That's probably that girl." Nagito remarked, keeping his voice down – to no avail, as she still heard him.  
"That girl? I'm one of the greatest cybernetic entrepreneurs of the modern age- no, of all history! I've invented more improvements for life as we know it than you could use in a lifetime! Historically good looks and a brilliant mind, I'm Miu Iruma!" Miu announced, as the eyes of the tavern fell on the shouting girl.  
"She's pretty full of herself… you and her would get along great." Chiaki gently nudged Celes, who returned with a glare.  
"I can still hear you, geez…" Miu groaned, before snapping her fingers. "Oi! Whatsyourname! You gonna play a game of pool against me or what?!"  
"… It's Celestia Ludenberg, Ms. Iruma." Celes responded, faking a smile. "And of course, I'll play against the 'greatest inventor of our time'."

"Damnit, I didn't want to believe it, but when am I ever fuckin' lucky enough to be right." Another voice sighed in resignation. Both Celes and Miu turned their heads towards the source.  
"Didn't wanna believe what, Fuyuhiko?" Miu asked, while Celes scowled wordlessly.  
"That my girlfriend's fuckin' bitch of a sister would be here." Fuyuhiko responded, head resting on his hand.  
"… Nice to see you too." Celes said, teeth slightly gritted. "Want to throw a frozen drink at my head like old times?"  
"If I had a fuckin' say in anything, you'd have more than a frozen drink thrown at your head." Fuyuhiko replied.  
"Hey, both of you, stop it! I'm supposed to be winning a game here!" Miu groaned, grabbing Celes by the arm. Slowly, Celes turned her head to meet Miu's gaze.  
"Don't you fucking **dare** touch me." She said, and though her smile was polite, the look in her eyes and her aura were anything but. Panicking, Miu immediately let go.  
"A-Alright, alright!" She said, raising both her hands where they could be seen.

"… She hasn't changed much in four years, has she?" Chihiro remarked, scratching the back of his head.  
"Hair's five times longer. That's about it." Fuyuhiko replied, as the two girls finally settled down and walked over to the pool table.  
"8-Ball, right?" Miu asked, picking up one of the cue sticks.  
"You're the challenger. Pick what you like." Celes gave a smile, picking up the remaining stick. "And as challenger, you'll be setting up."  
"Hmph, thrusting all the dirty work onto my greatness…" Miu mumbled, placing the balls into the triangle rack, lining them up, before placing the cue ball in place. "Alright, you ready to get destroyed?"  
"You're getting ahead of yourself, no?" Celes smiled, holding out a coin. "Pick a side."  
"Heads." Miu replied, as the coin was flicked into the air, watching as Celes caught it and flicked it over.  
"… Tails. Better luck next time, Ms Iruma." Celes giggled, Miu's face turning to a pout, as Celes lined up for the first shot.

Ten minutes later, the table had been half-cleared; though Miu's stripes were definitely the more dominant presence on the table. It was pretty clear that she was losing – and though she tried remaining cool, she couldn't deny there was some pressure on her if she couldn't back up her talk from earlier.  
"Do you need a break?" Celes asked, smiling.  
"You wish, I'm just, y'know, holding back for a grand finale. Duh!" Miu replied, twisting chalk on the end of her cue stick.  
"Well, I wouldn't wait too much longer for that grand finale. I only have to sink two more colours before I start going after yours." Celes chuckled, to which Miu lined up her next shot.  
"Trust me, by the time this shot's done, I'll be sinking yours." Miu said, before firing away. The cue ball rocketed forwards, crashing into 3 balls and causing 2 of them to sink. The third one went flying off the table, but Miu's face was anything but pleased, as the 8-Ball managed to destroy the glass in one of the android patron's hands.

"T-That's… fuck." Miu muttered, as the patron stood up.  
"Hey, what's the big idea!" He shouted, storming over to the two players. "I can't find a place in the fucking city that'll still serve me, and now you fleshies are resorting to destroying my drinks?!"  
"I-I swear, th-that was an accident! D-Don't get mad at me!" In a matter of 30 seconds, Miu had gone from overconfident to a cowering wreck.  
"It was just an accident, Sir-" Celes began with a smile, before the patron turned his attention towards her.  
"You. Diplomat. Shut your fucking mouth before I rip your tongue out." He hissed, causing Celes' face to turn to a slight scowl.  
"Oh for fuck's sake- I'll get you another drink on the house if you just avoid violence against one of my longtime customers." Mondo sighed, already overfilled to capacity.  
"Ugh. Either of you do this again, and I will rip all four of your collective legs off." The android muttered, before heading back to the bar with Mondo, with Nagito keeping an eye on him.

"G-Geez, I knew things were bad here, but wow…" Miu muttered, pushing her fingers together.  
"This is likely just the beginning, Ms Iruma." Celes stated, before holding up the 8-Ball with a smile. "Our game, however, is at an end. I win."  
"Yeah, alright, so you won one pool game against me. Big deal…" Miu huffed, grabbing the ball off of Celes. "… Wait, Diplomat?"  
"A day job with the Government." Celes replied, causing Miu to frown.  
"You mean the Government who authorized the whole fucking cybernetic citizen purge?!" Miu yelled, making to grab ahold of Celes, but a glare managed to hold her back.  
"I was working under the government under the assumption that Maki Harukawa couldn't possibly have lost based on that fucking ideal of his. But lo and behold, Kokichi Ouma won the Senatorship, and as a diplomat, I can't do a thing about it." Celes explained. "So while I'm a member of the Okugawan Government, I am in no position to-"  
"Alright, alright, I got it, you creepy doll." Miu groaned, looking towards the bar. "I'm gonna go get a drink."

"Man. You still haven't changed a bit in four fuckin' years." Fuyuhiko finally put his thoughts into words, frowning at Celes.  
"Neither have you. Still short, still with the apple-cheeked face of a child." Celes retorted.  
"Still with the creepy pale skin, still with the clothes you see on porcelain dolls in horror films." Fuyuhiko replied. "Guess I should let you know you're an aunt and have been for six months."  
"I didn't expect she'd settle down easily, but I digress." Celes replied, hands held up in resignation. "I just hope she doesn't expect a cousin for the little thing, because I'd rather take my eyes out again."  
"Trust me, the one man who could love you, let alone did? Long dead." Fuyuhiko smirked, causing Celes to roll her eyes.  
"Ahahaha, yes, very funny, Byakuya is dead, he has been for four years. Hilarious. Didn't you leave a little girl to sacrifice her life because you couldn't bear the thought of you or my sister losing their beloved girlfriend?"  
"Oi, fuck you." Fuyuhiko slammed his right fist against the countertop.

"H-Hey, Celestia, isn't this the first time we've met in four years?" Chihiro piped up, desperate to derail the conversation before it devolved into a fight that would get the two kicked out.  
"Hm… yes, I suppose it is. … Who are you again?" Celes asked, folding her hands and giving a smile.  
"Chihiro Fujisaki… I-I built Chiaki Nanami, remember?" Chihiro asked, causing Celes to feign an epiphany.  
"Ah, right… ahaha, just kidding. Of course I remember you." She laughed a little, before mumbling, "You were one of the few people I tolerated in my time there…"  
"O-Oh… right. If at all possible, I'd like to speak with Chiaki…" Chihiro folded his hands together, while Fuyuhiko desperately gestured for him to not leave him alone with this witch.  
"Of course, father." Chiaki replied, giving a smile and causing Fuyuhiko to groan.

"Um… about the government… Why is Senator Ouma doing this?" Kiibo asked, trying to take Chihiro's place as conversation de-railer.  
"He said it was something to do with giving more resources and opportunities to humans, but I doubt he's telling anything more than a lie when he says that." Celes replied, before twisting a piece of hair around her finger. "I cannot be certain, though."  
"So how long do you think it'll be before the Senator notices your eyes are cybernetically enhanced and you get fired?" Fuyuhiko asked, a smug smile on his face.  
"Fairly sure that an enhancement that corrects a mistake that you made is perfectly legal, as it's essentially a prosthetic." Celes replied with a smirk of her own.  
"Fuck you." Fuyuhiko groaned, turning back to the bar.

"… Are you at least going to try doing something about it?" Kiibo asked again, moving slightly closer to Celes.  
"I've been doing what I can to wrap my head around the situation currently, let alone what can be done to stop it." Celes replied, twirling a piece of her hair.  
"Oh, OK…" Kiibo sighed, sinking his head, and staring out at the sea of patrons. Celes sighed, and with no other game, opted to make her departure from the Copper Arm – for once, on her own.

Looking up towards the skyline of Lagaard, Celes could have been forgiven for assuming that the night would be clear. However, as soon as she'd walked two blocks back towards her apartment, the sky opened up its fury, soaking the landscape of the city. Unable to stop herself, Celes let out an audible groan as she continued on her way – chances are she'd be arriving home and dropping a towel or two onto her body, as an umbrella wasn't something she'd decided to bring. Sticking to the sides of buildings in the vain attempts to stay somewhat dry, she brushed her hair out of her face and kept walking. Three blocks later, she was shivering in the late winter rain, and she still had 3 blocks to go. One thing was certain in her mind though – that night had gone downhill since Fuyuhiko decided to make his presence known in Lagaard. She pushed away the obvious thought of _At least things can't get any worse_ , not wishing to tempt fate further this evening.

Sliding her keycard through the reception slot after a journey of twenty floors and a hallway, the door to her apartment unlocked and she stepped inside, the lights flickering on. Taking more cautious steps to not slip over on the tiles, Celes slid open a closet and pulled out a crimson towel, wrapping it around her shoulders, the towel quickly starting to both warm her back up and dry herself off. Quietly, she headed towards the window, sitting down on the windowsill and deciding to watch the cityscape.

"Followed me home?" Celes asked, as a second keycard was pushed through the reception slot, revealing a very soaked Nagito and Chiaki on the other side.  
"Well, yeah. That, and the bar got seriously overexcited shortly after you left." Chiaki replied, as Nagito dumped a facetowel onto his hair. "… Hey Nagito, you should probably dry the rest of your body so it doesn't rust or something…"  
"I've had worse. I'll be fine." Nagito insisted, continuing to dry his hair. Celes smiled slightly at her bodyguards, but genuinely. It wasn't the life she had expected four years ago, and this life could soon be jeopardized. But it was pleasant.

And for the time being, she'd enjoy it.


	11. Chapter 10 - Comfort Call

As the cold, pouring rain began to drown out the sounds of the crowded tavern, Fuyuhiko ordered a drink of vodka to try and drown out the brief conversation he'd just had, and drown out the realisations of the past two days; the fact that he'd just lost his rights to some new set of reduced ones and had to take a trip to Lagaard to investigate just what the fuck was going on, only to find his place of temporary residence was frequently visited by his rival - also his fiancée's sister. However, as he forced his thoughts to drift from that, he just wound up reminiscing of events even further back – opening his old wounds in the process. Those ice-blue eyes of his captor and tormentor, the one responsible for his cyborg enhancements that led to the problems he had with this new government… even if she was long dead, her empire little more than a memory and a warning to any attempting similar acts, those memories were still enough to cause his head to come crashing down with a groan, attempting to think of more pleasant things. Such as his fiancée's pretty face, her smi- well, maybe not her smile. Her skill with a blade, definitely. Their baby girl… he wasn't too partial to kids (or the making thereof, especially), but Aki was an exception. Probably, he realised, because she was his own daughter.

Despite more pleasant thoughts overtaking the previous horrid ones, when the glass of vodka finally came, Fuyuhiko drank the lot within moments, letting the sharp alcohol dull his mind. Sure, he'd expected Celes to be in Lagaard, but he had hoped he wouldn't have to run into her. Unfortunately, life had a way of throwing him snake eyes. He rested his head in his hand, hoping that the alcohol would soon dull all of these plaguing concerns.  
"… I've ran several algorithms on it, and I can't see why you two don't get along." Kiibo stated as he sat down next to Fuyuhiko, a comment largely thrown to the wind and coming straight out of nowhere.  
"She's a bitch. That's the gist of why we don't fuckin' get along." Fuyuhiko replied, turning his head towards him just slightly. "Doesn't fuckin' help that she's here and part of the government that fucked us over."  
"She did say she couldn't do much about it…"  
"Yeah, OK, here's the thing. Celes is a fuckin' liar. Hard to tell when she is and isn't, so I don't blame you for believin' her."  
"Oh… would a 50-50 algorithm help to determine-"  
"Nah. It can change rapidly. There ain't no algorithm advanced enough in the goddamn world to map out the way her fuckin' mind works." Fuyuhiko tilted his head slightly, facing Kiibo. "But trust me. You don't wanna get involved with her."  
"I understand…" Kiibo replied.

Dullness taking a while to affect him, Fuyuhiko's thoughts wandered again – though thankfully, they avoided his traumatic events. They were a continuation of the pleasant ones from earlier, and Fuyuhiko quickly found himself asking a different question entirely. Raising his head, he managed to spot the cinnamon-coloured mop that was Chihiro's head among the patrons. Slapping 4GP onto the counter for the vodka, he stood up from the barstool, quietly slipping through the patrons to reach the booth he was sitting at. Spotting his head was easy, but it helped that the cyan eyewear atop Miu's head were clearly visible as well.  
"… a-and that should help, if we ever need to get into the government systems…" Chihiro finished as Fuyuhiko walked over, his voice barely more than a whisper.  
"Wait, gettin' into government systems?" Fuyuhiko asked, though he lowered his voice as best he could to avoid attention.  
"I-It's a last resort if things get too bad for us to handle normally… Iruma's pretty smart, so I felt like she had a right to know in case they do." Chihiro replied. "A-Anyway, what brings you over here, Fuyuhiko?"  
"A question about Alter Ego. Basically? Can it open up a communication line?" Fuyuhiko replied.  
"Ah… I'm gonna take a shot in the dark, and guess you wanna call Peko and Mukuro." Chihiro gave a smile.  
"Heh, yeah. Can it do that?" Fuyuhiko asked, giving a smirk.  
"I wouldn't program an advanced system designed to assist with rebuilding the city and making lives easier without a communication line… here, let me see if I can get them to pick up." Chihiro replied, taking Fuyuhiko's wrist in his hands, and working through the menus. "… You should probably set up a password before we do any investigating. Government workers have access to any account without one… You can set it to your fingerprint if you w- uhh…" Chihiro trailed off as he realised the communicator was wrapped around Fuyuhiko's right wrist.  
"… Yeah, I think that's out of the question." Fuyuhiko replied.  
"… Alright, communication open! Though it might be better to get to somewhere more quiet…" Chihiro pointed out. "You can stay in my room if you want!"  
"Heh, thanks. You wanna come with? They're your friends too."  
"Well, I'm not Peko's fiancé… but yeah, ehe, I'll come with."

Once the two entered Chihiro's room, the communication channel opened.  
"Honey, someone's trying to call us!" Mukuro's voice could be heard on the other end, shouting seemingly upstairs.  
"Yeah, it's us." Fuyuhiko replied. "Y'know, Fuyuhiko and Chihiro? Your fiancee's other partner?"  
"Wait, you had contact the whole time?" Mukuro frowned incredulously, though only each other's voices could be heard.  
"W-Well yeah, but we needed to get settled into Lagaard first. How are things back home?" Chihiro replied, quickly changing the topic.  
"Peko should be down soon… things are going pretty well, all things considered. Aki hasn't been too much of a handful…" Mukuro replied. As if to contradict her, as footsteps sounded through their living room, the infantile whines of Aki could be heard.  
"Heh, you sure about that?" Fuyuhiko smirked.  
"Too much of a handful, Fuyuhiko." Peko replied, though partially drowned out by her child's cries. "So, have you had an audience with Senator Ouma yet?"  
"W-we only got to Lagaard less than twelve hours ago… I'm going to try seeking it tomorrow, but it could take a while, even for me. I worked on government programming, but I'm not actually 'with' the government." Chihiro explained, scratching gently at his neck.  
"Your sister does, apparently. Ran into the b-, er, her, earlier. About half an hour ago." Fuyuhiko added.  
"If she were still the Senator's advisor, it would've been as simple as getting her to agree to it, but now…" Mukuro trailed off.  
"If you can get in contact with her again, it's worth at least a try." Peko suggested, Aki's cries starting to die down.  
"Wait, get in contact? With her? Peko, you know we'd kill each other given the chance." Fuyuhiko groaned.  
"It's either try to get Celes to cooperate, or seek an audience with the Senator without any help." Peko replied.  
"Damnit… yeah, I'm not going to go out of my way to talk to your sister as the first option. That's a last resort, y'know?" Fuyuhiko explained.  
"Fair enough. I just hope this gets resolved soon." Peko concluded. "Enough about politics. How much has Lagaard changed?"

"W-Well… it's alive?" Chihiro suggested, pushing his fingertips together.  
"Yep. Wouldn't believe that it was a fuckin' biohazard zone half a decade ago. Polished, rebuilt, better than ever." Fuyuhiko replied with a grin. "Or, at least, the best it's ever been in my 24 years."  
"Huh… would be cool if we were there to see it." Mukuro admitted.  
"Anyway… I think Aki's hungry." Peko added abruptly.  
"Y-Yeah, I'm getting kind of tired, too… should we talk more tomorrow?" Chihiro asked.  
"Probably a good idea, you've got big days ahead of you…" Mukuro replied.  
"Aight. G'night, you three, and I love ya." Fuyuhiko smiled, glad to hear that nothing had really changed.  
"Good night." Peko replied.

"Communication channel disconnected." Alter Ego stated. Fuyuhiko lowered the device, smiling at being able to call his fiancées and child – even if the latter couldn't speak yet. Subconsciously, he laid back on Chihiro's bed, though he didn't seem to mind. There wasn't much reason to do so: this wasn't the first time they'd shared a bed. Instead, the two curled up on the bed, the day's exhaustion finally catching up with them, as the two succumbed to the powerful embrace of sleep.


	12. Chapter 11 - The First Night

The silvery doors of the elevator closed behind him, the elevator beginning its ascent. Makoto sighed, leaning against the back wall, pressing his palms into his face. It seemed this week was one bad occurrence after another – first the new Senator was placing laws that removed many robotic rights, something that had led to this trip to Lagaard. Rights that his friends would lose, and for reasons that nobody understood. This had been followed by an honest to god murder. It wasn't like the murders done to his friends, one of his previous girlfriends, and admittedly like he had done to others in protecting those he cared for and loved. Those were deaths by combat, and ultimately necessary deaths to save Okugawa and the world. But Tsumugi Shirogane… she didn't even have a chance to fight back. She was a civilian. It wasn't death in combat, nor a natural disaster, illness, or even an accident. It was murder. And just that word, murder, made Makoto feel physically ill. Not only that, but if that note crammed into her hand wasn't an empty threat, another person was in danger of being murdered – another civilian, another innocent. Murder. Murder. Murder… it made him nauseous.

The doors of the elevator opened, allowing Makoto to head down the hall to his room. The nausea became too much to bear, resulting in Makoto leaning over a nearby bin and upchucking the contents of his stomach. Between the now somewhat subsided nausea, and the fatigue caused by the day's events, he felt like crashing almost as soon as he entered the room. However, he shook himself awake, wiped his face on the wrist of his sleeve, forced a smile, and knocked on the door. After a few moments, Mikan and Kazuki stood on the other side of the door, Naoko making her way over as well.  
"Dad's back!" Kazuki cheered happily, running towards Makoto with his arms outstretched.  
"Yep, I'm home!" Makoto laughed, picking up Kazuki as the two met and lifting him into the air, jokingly pouting. "Why aren't you asleep yet?"  
"I can't sleep." Kazuki admitted. Giggling slightly and giving Kazuki's dark hair a ruffle, Makoto set him back down onto the floor.  
"Do you need a story?" Makoto asked, giving a polite smile.  
"Yeah, yeah! Tell a story!" Kazuki said, pumping a fist into the air.  
"A-Alright… what kind of story do you want to hear?" Mikan asked, giving a gentle smile.  
"Could you tell us how you and mom met?" Naoko asked, tilting her head.

"Y-Yeah, though since you're so young, I'm gonna have to cut a lot of it…" Makoto admitted, picking Kazuki back up and carrying him over to one of the guest beds, as Naoko crawled back into hers.  
"Alright, so… it started a few years back. There was a very bad woman attempting to take over the world, and I kind of got roped into a ragtag team effort to stop her… at one point, she kidnapped one of our own, and turned him into a cyborg. We had to stop him. And we did, but… ehe, I got pretty badly hurt." Makoto found his finger caught halfway between the point of impact from the bullet and his ear, a nervous smile on his face. "I had to be taken to the hospital at Majikkushiti. I… I think I was nearly asleep by that point. Kind of like being asleep, but forced asleep. And, well… I was seen pretty soon after, and that's where I met Mikan for the first time." Makoto looked up at her with a smile. "… And she's just as pretty now as the day I met her."

As Mikan buried her head into a pillow and made whimpering noises at the abrupt, unexpected compliment, Makoto continued the story. "I woke up and saw her, focused on a mini-droid taking the pain away. Though… even just her smile would assure me I'd be alright. Afterwards, as we were leaving, I overheard a medical downsizing was taking place, and she was being fired… so our group offered to take her on board. And… that's how we met."

"Whoa, a mini-droid? That sounds cool!" Kazuki exclaimed, though drowsiness was becoming apparent in his eyes.  
"I-It was a medical innovation for its time, but we have nanodroids for that now…" Makoto laughed, gently ruffling Kazuki's hair. "I told you a story, now please try to get some rest."  
"Awh, OK." Kazuki lowered his head onto the pillow, closing his eyes and snuggling in. Makoto let his vision drift over to Naoko, who was fast asleep. Finally, his head turned towards Mikan – still very much awake.

"Ehe… Mikan, can we talk for a while? Privately…?" Makoto asked, Mikan lowering the pillow and standing up.  
"O-Of course… is something wrong?" She asked, tilting her head.  
"W-Well… yeah. We should probably discuss it away from the kids, though." Makoto admitted.  
"Alright…" Mikan nodded, heading towards the door.

Once inside the elevator, having locked both the balcony and front door to their room, Mikan could hide her curiosity no longer.  
"W-We're alone now… w-what did you want to talk about, Makoto?" Mikan asked, worry clear in her eyes. "A-Am I not being good enough as a wife…?"  
"N-No, it's not that at all! I think our marriage and lives together are going fine…" Makoto replied, holding up his hands defensively. Despite the gnawing problem at the back of his head… it was a long time coming, and he pushed it back down. "It's… it's about the daycare we visited."  
The elevator doors opened, revealing a rooftop garden. Rain poured down rapidly, resulting in both of the two darting for the sheltered area of the garden – a small seating area, relying on the light of the city to illuminate it.

"U-Um… the daycare, you were saying?" Mikan asked, gently squeezing water out of her hair.  
"R-Right… um. After you left with Kazuki and Naoko, I went inside and met two of the proprietors – Kaede Akamatsu, and Maki Harukawa." Makoto began. "I… there was a third one, Tsumugi Shirogane. When I got there, she... she was already dead. But not just dead – Shirogane had been murdered."  
"M-Murdered?!" Mikan exclaimed.  
"I… I had a pretty similar reaction. I still don't feel well acknowledging it." Makoto admitted. He felt the nausea from before try to come up again, so he continued. Now wasn't the time to be throwing up once more – or the place, considering Mikan's track record for worrying about illness and injury. "A detective arrived shortly after you left, named Shuichi Saihara. He… he asked the two girls some questions about the murder, before investigating the scene… I wound up having to help. He could only find red-herring clues that were pretty obviously planted by her killer, but…" Makoto trailed off.  
"A-Are you alright, Makoto?" Mikan asked.  
"… We found a note shoved into her hand. A note left by the killer. They… the killer said that if the murder went reported, then Harukawa would be next."  
"B-But… why would someone try to kill her?! D-Didn't she already lose the election? Wh-what more could someone take from her?!" Mikan asked.  
"I think the obvious answer is her life. And if they take that, it could demoralize the people… they'd be more inclined to accept Ouma as their senator if there weren't any other options." Makoto frowned. "I'm guessing it's someone who thinks that she's the pivot of resistance against him."  
"Has… has anything been done to protect her?" Mikan inquired.  
"After finding the note, Saihara told me it was best to go home… so I wouldn't know." Makoto admitted, lowering his head. "I… I want to make sure she's safe. I'll head back tomorrow, if possible."  
"I understand…" Mikan replied, as her gaze shifted to the rain-soaked city.

"… It's beautiful…" She said after a few moments, drawing Makoto's attention to the scape. The rain reflected the neon lights of the city, creating dancing, though foggy, shapes. In a dreary way… he thought she was right. Makoto leaned his head on Mikan's shoulder, who leaned against him in turn. For a moment, they laid against each other, content to watch the rainfall, before Mikan leaned in, planting a gentle kiss on Makoto's forehead. A subtle smile worked its way onto Makoto's face, and he entwined his hand with hers as he returned the gesture. Though only five minutes like this passed, to them it seemed like hours spent in each other's embrace. However, eventually, Makoto lifted his head up.  
"We should probably head back inside… it's probably going to be warmer in a bed." He pointed out, rubbing the back of his neck with his free hand.  
"R-Right… I-I'm sorry." Mikan replied, releasing her hold on him and clasping her hands together.  
"You don't have to apologize… I enjoy these moments when they come by, Mikan." Makoto gave a smile, gently holding onto her wrist.  
"I-I enjoy them too… b-but if you want to head inside, I don't mind." Mikan gave a shy smile in return.  
"Then… let's head inside."


End file.
